Family Pain, Hidden Tears
by Neph Champion
Summary: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete...
1. Harry's disappearance

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Prologue)

Eight year old Harry bit back a sob as he clutched the cover and first few pages of the book that he had won in school today. Dudley and his gang had taken it from him and tore it to shreds leaving him with only what he now clutched in his hands. Why did they have to be so mean?

Harry fingered the strong faces on the cover and whispered the name, "Sauce-kay? Hmmmm OOHhchi-ha? Kaka-shi, Narrow-toe? I wish, I wish I could be strong like you." He swiped at the blood that was streaming from the cuts on his face from where Dudley had pushed him in the gravel and grounded his face in.

A bright yellow flash, and then, he wasn't where he used to be.

Dudley snickered as he came around the corner, "I know your hiding, Potter," he laughed then saw... nothing, "Where…?"

Harry didn't know it, but his wish was about to come true.

(End Prologue)

I know it's really short, but this is just the prolog, they are supposed to be short.

Neph


	2. Meeting Team Seven

Hidden Tears/Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter One)

"Moe, Kaka-sensei is late!" Harry heard a young woman's voice say when his vision cleared. She sounded around sixteen years old.

He scooted back until his back hit a tree... wait a tree where did the tree come from, he had been in an alley and now... he could hear water running nearby, sniffing, he tried really hard not to panic. Where was he? And how did he get here? How was he supposed to get home? And, where was his book? [1]

"Sakura..." a calm male voice says, "when is Kakashi-sensei not late?" The young man's tone was sarcastic. He sounded to be the same age as the girl.

Harry rubbed his face, wincing and suppressing a whimper as some of the gravel went in deeper. He took a deep breath and very carefully peaked around the tree. He tried hard not to be seen.

"Hey, did you hear something?" asked a third, slightly loud voice. "It's coming from over there, by the tree..."

Harry gasped and stood up and tried to run, but the blood in his eyes hurt and made his vision blurry. He ran to what he thought was a tree, but when he touched it, it turned out to be legs!

"Hey, are you ok?" This voice was new and sounded older than the other three.

Harry squeaked in fear and fell backwards on his butt than tried to crab walk back to the first tree. For the first time, he saw the teens and the older man (if his silver hair was any indication of age). The girl had bright pink hair (was it died?) and lovely forest green eyes. She wore a sleeveless deep red shirt with black pants under something that looked a bit like a pail pink skirt that was a few shades away from her hair. Her hair was held back by what looked like (from his perspective) a red headband. She wore on her feet some boots.

The first boy had dark hair that spiked in the back and kind dark grey eyes. He wore a short-sleeved white shirt, arm guards dark pants and strange looking sandals. He wore a strange looking blue bandana-like thing tied around his forehead with a medal plate that had an equally strange emblem on it. It looked almost like a leaf. Of the three younger strangers, he was the tallest.

The second boy had bright blonde hair and sparkling diamond blue eyes. He wore a brand-new looking flack vest that had six pockets across the chest. Under that he wore a dark blue flack jacket with two red spiral circles on the shoulders. He wore dark blue arm guards that were of a slightly different design to the first boy's and black pants. He also wore strange looking sandals on his feet. He also wore a bandana around his forehead, though his was orange.

The silver haired man wore the same outfit as the blonde, but he wore his bandana (dark blue) slanted over one eye. Though Harry was scared of these new people, he couldn't help wondering why, had the man lost an eye? His visible dark grey eye held an emotion that Harry couldn't place.

The three teens watched him. "Why is he so skittish?"

Kakashi knelt in front of the shaking boy and very slow reached a hand out touching the boy's chin than held up bloody fingers for Sakura to see. "I think he has good reason," he said grimly.

All three of his students looked very angry. That anyone would harm a kid mad them angry and sad. They knew that people could be cruel. But not even the blonde's old tormenters had gone that far. Those that had were never seen again. The village leader was very fond of him.

"Please, sir, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do better than Dudley!" Harry whimpered.

Sasuke blinked. "We aren't angry that you did better than anyone kid." He knelt, his voice soft. "We aren't going to hurt you."

Harry blinked back wondering if it was a trick, no one had ever talked nicely to him, except his teacher who gave him the book. He was very afraid for his teacher; the last person to be nice to him other than Old Figg had disappeared.

Sasuke held his hand out to Harry. "If you let us, we can help you." Kids like this one needed to be dealt with in a certain manner, he was well aware of how to treat this kid right. Sasuke had been spoiled in his youth after loosing his whole clan and until a few years ago it had gone to his head. It had taken literally years to beat the arrogance out of him that shouldn't have been there in the first place. This kid didn't need that kind of treatment.

Harry looked up steadily into Sasuke's dark grey eyes, wiping at the blood that threatened to go into his eyes again and than very slowly took the hand that was offered him. He didn't want to be hurt again. With new people he could never be sure. He hoped they would treat him better than the Dursleys had.

Sasuke smiled as he picked Harry up slowly. "Sakura, can you take a look at him before we take him to the hospital?" he asked, turning to the pink-haired girl. On second thought, the hospital was a bad place to take this kid. It might be better to take him home and treat him there.

Harry clung to the teen holding him; he couldn't remember the last time that someone had willing touched him in a way that wasn't made to hurt. He jumped slightly when he felt a cool wet cloth gently brushing at the cuts, "he has dirt and rocks in some of these," Sakura said as Naruto re-wet the cloth from his canteen. She was appalled that anyone would treat a child as young as this one so harshly. And his injuries didn't look like any that she had seen on her teammates when they were all still in the Academy or after training…

"We need to clean these before I can do anything for him..." Sakura told Sasuke. "It would be best if we took him somewhere so I could treat him, if we are lucky, we won't need to take him to the hospital." She'd seen Naruto's reaction enough times to know that this new little boy would be terrified. Naruto was getting better, but being in the hospital for anything other than visiting sick and injured friends still set the blonde on edge.

"My house is closest," Sasuke offered. "And Itachi is there. He can look after the kid if we get another mission today."

"Then let's go." Naruto said with a sad smile. He was likely remembering a time when he had had no one, before Team Seven, before the Academy. He hated thinking back to that time when all he got was hate, hate from all sides. The only solace had been the quiet affection from Sandaime-ji-chan and sometimes even that wasn't enough. The Tower had become a home and a hiding place when he was younger, learning to read and write from the Hokage's documents.

Harry tightened his grasp on the person who was holding him as the teen stood up and began running and jumping on rooftops, kind of like his book! "Are you Sauce-key?" He asked.

"That's not how my name is pronounced but yes..." Sasuke said as Naruto laughed. "It's Sa-su-ke."

"Sasuke," Harry said slowly, "I read about you." He sighed sleepily, now that he was no longer running from Dudley and the gang, he was sleepy. He relaxed against his better judgment.

"Only good things I hope." Sasuke laughed. "I'm a shoe-in for the next ANBU Captain after all."

"I read that you will protect… someone who will pay you," Harry said he dug in his pocket, and pulled out the half pence he had found on the way to school that morning, "is that enough?" He really wanted to be protected. But what if it wasn't enough? What if they left him to fend for himself in this new, strange place?

Naruto laughed. "There's no need to pay us!" Naruto gave him a smile. "We will always protect those that need it." Especially since this kid had been found inside Konoha's walls.

"And if you want, you can train to be a Konoha shinobi too." Sakura told him with a soft smile. They would need to register him with the Hokage, go through the adoption process and bind him to Konoha first but it could be done.

"Really, so Dudley and his gang can't beat up on me anymore?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No." Sasuke confirmed. All of the boy's statements reminded the team of Naruto's situation as a child. It was making them all rather angry, not that they would show it to this child.

"You're back early from training," Itachi said meeting them at the door, "my mission was canceled, breakfast?" he said as a way of explanation.

"That would be wonderful Aniki." Sasuke told him. "Can Naruto and Sakura stay?"

"We have enough," Itachi motioned them to follow him, "and who's this little one?" he asked, eyeing the small child in his younger brother's arms.

"We haven't asked his name yet, but he's hurt." Sasuke told him. "We were more worried about getting him help."

"Pull out some more place settings," Itachi called as he walked by the kitchen and went to the bathroom and the first aid kit.

"Alright," came Namikaze Deidara's [2] voice from the kitchen. "Naruto, come help me."

Sasuke nodded as he placed Harry in a chair.

"Hey, Naruto," Deidara said pointing his chopping knife to the correct cabinet, when Naruto entered the kitchen to help his older cousin, "Ramen's in there too!" he told his younger cousin as he put the finishing touches on breakfast.

"Awesome!" Naruto grinned at his older cousin [3].

Itachi brought the kit back in and he and Sakura knelt next to Harry, "this might hurt," she said as she pulled some tweezers out, "but we will try to be quick and gentle okay?"

Harry nodded. "Yes ma'am." He was no stranger to pain.

"Hey, kid," Kakashi asked as the medic and her helper got the rest of the supplies ready, "Can I see that coin you showed us earlier? I promise I will give it back when they are done." It might give a clue to the child's origin.

Harry nodded and held his hand out. "Here." He held the coin out, slightly afraid of the man.

Kakashi took the coin over to the light and looked at it, Sasuke and Deidara joined him, "have you ever seen this type of coin before?" He asked in a soft voice. It looked foreign, but Kakashi couldn't tell from where.

Deidara shook his head. "Nope." In all his travels as an Iwa Nin and then Missing Nin with the Akatsuki he hadn't.

"Wait a second," Sasuke said before slipping out of the room, he returned a few moments later with a dusty book, "one of my uncles collected coins from around the world… let's see." He muttered as he flipped through the pages.

"Ah! Here is it!" Sasuke pointed to one of the coins. "It looks like it came from the west." He continued with, looking thoughtful.

Sakura was angry, not that anyone could tell, but she was very angry. She knew that some of the rocks that they dug out of the kid's face had hurt, but he never so much as whimpered or flinched. The only way to tell were his eyes filling with tears. A seasoned veteran could hide pain, but a young kid? Someone had been hurting this kid and he had learned to hide his hurt. He'd been in the situation a long time, she just knew it.

She pulled away and went closer to the silver-haired ninja. "Kaka-sensei, he is showing signs of abuse, I think the best thing to do would be to enroll him in the Academy. I know he's a bit old..."

Harry stilled and began to tremble; the last person who had noticed his abuse… his uncle had made that person go away.

"But I think it's best if we train him." She continued.

Sasuke, Deidara and Kakashi looked up at her. Abuse was a very serious offence in Ninja villages. Sure little Academy students went home with bruises all the time, but that was just from training and the civilian families, like Sakura's were all informed beforehand. But the kids never went home sporting the kind of injuries this child had.

"I don't want you to disappear too!" Harry said his eyes filling with dread, they were all really nice people. He didn't want anything to happen to them! "My uncle made the last people go away, he said he ki-killed them!"

"We are trained Ninja little one." Itachi reassured him in a soft voice. "There is no way he would be able to kill us. Let alone touch us."

Harry stared a long time into Itachi's eyes, "promise?" He whispered finally.

"I promise." Itachi confirmed. He himself was an S-Class ninja; not very many would be able to touch him in battle at all.

"Okay," Sakura said wiping off the last of the blood to make sure they had gotten all the dirt out after she returned to their patient's side, "Close your eyes so we can finish."

Harry closed his eyes. He felt gentle fingers touch his face and then a gentle heat soothed the sharp, burning pains of his scratches.

Sakura hummed a soothing tune to help him stay calm.

"All done!" Itachi said and handed Harry a cool cloth to finish off.

"Better?" Sakura asked as she held up a mirror and Harry gaped, there were no marks on his face, it looked better than it had this morning, even the bruise that his uncle had given him for 'burning' the bacon was gone!

"I even managed to heal the scar." Sakura told him cheerfully. "It had an evil feeling to it, so I decided that it had to go."

Harry wavered for a second than leapt forward hugging Sakura. He froze in horror and backed away from her as he realized what he had just done, wondering what punishment he was going to get for touching someone without permission.

She pulled him back into the hug. "It's okay to show gratitude." Underneath her soft tone, hidden from the child expertly, a rage simmered. It had taken a long time to break Naruto of the nervous habits he had developed because of the great emotional abuse heaped on him by the villagers. This child was in good hands.

"But I'll get you dirty with my freaky hands!" He complained.

"I get dirty training and healing people all the time." Sakura told him, hiding her anger at those words. "I don't care about getting dirty."

"But!" Harry wanted to pull away, but it felt so good to be held. Finally he sighed and very carefully placed his head on Sakura's shoulder ready to pull away if she changed her mind and objected.

She smiled. "I'll be your sister if you want me to be..." This kid needed a family and who better than Team Seven, who were experts at dealing with this kind of abuse? Even their sensei, the son of the famed White Fang had experienced a similar abuse and had overcome it [4].

"Really?" He had always dreamed of someone finding him and rescuing him, but he had rescued himself and found someone. So, in a way, his dreams had come true, at least he hoped so. She was offering after all.

"Yes, I've always wanted a little brother." Sakura told him with a grin, Naruto, being her age didn't count, even if he had been born later in the year. He was always taking care of her.

"And Naruto and I will be your brothers." Sasuke told him.

Harry smiled contently, "Okay," he said, he would let them be his brother/sister, as long as they wanted to be, and when they got tired of him, he would remember the happy feeling he had right now.

Sasuke turned to Itachi. "Aniki, can we get the paperwork we need for it?"

Itachi nodded, "but someone needs to tell us their name." He said looking at Harry pointedly.

"Harry… just Harry," he said firmly, if he didn't give them his last name, than when Uncle Vernon went looking he wouldn't find Harry Potter, because there had to be hundreds of Harrys around.

Itachi nodded. "I can get the paper work after breakfast."

"OH!" Harry said jumping out of the chair, "I'll get started making it right away!"

The ninja blinked. "You don't need to do that..." Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and then to Sasuke and the older family members, bewildered. Naruto had never been forced to cook so this was startling. They all took turns with KP duty, Naruto and Deidara had quite a bit of talent at cooking, Sakura was also a good cook but nowhere near as good as the Namikaze and Sasuke and Itachi couldn't cook worth shit, so when it was their turns, the team usually went out to eat with the brothers treating.

"It's my turn actually..." Naruto admitted and hastily hid the bowl of half eaten Ramen that he had been munching on.

Deidara shook his head, his little cousin was so flighty, it seemed the only thing other than the wind affinity and Naruto had inherited from the Kiiroi Senkou [5] other than his looks were his cooking skills, "grab the serving bowl, Naruto, "he said," Breakfast is served

Naruto nodded and served breakfast. "What would I do without you Deidara-itoko?"

"I don't know, probably never remember anything and you'd let the rest of us starve. You can take my next turn since I covered for you this time." Deidara teased his younger cousin.

Harry wanted to giggle, they were calling the meal breakfast, but it was past dinner time, and the food looked like dinner food, fish, rice and vegetables.

But the sun was in the east, not the west. He watched as Naruto put a little bit of everything on his plate before sitting back down.

He was so confused, but so hungry. He waited until everyone was eating before he started and blinked at not finding any forks or spoons, just two wooden sticks.

Naruto reached over and began teaching him to use them.

Harry wanted to giggle again, eating with sticks, it had to be a joke… but he noticed that everyone else was doing the same thing.

With Naruto's help he was able to eat a little of everything on his plate. "They're called chopsticks." Naruto told him.

"Chopsticks," Harry repeated. He remembered a karate movie that Dudley had watched when he had been stuck in the cupboard one time; the people ate with chopsticks, so it wasn't a trick, but how…

"You hold them like you would a pen." Sasuke told him.

Harry stuck the tip of his tongue out of his mouth as he very carefully worked the utensils. He was thrilled when he finally made it from the plate to his mouth without dropping anything.

"Yay! You did it!" Sakura cheered. He grinned at her. He felt like he belonged here, with them. Everyone all made an effort to include him in their conversations.

"But Mom," Dudley whined as Petunia dragged her protesting son to the spot where Harry had vanished, "he's gone I tell you!" He pointed to the empty alley.

The only thing she could see was the pages of the book that Harry had won. _This isn't good._ Was the only thing she could think of through her shock. She had to get a letter to Dumbledore…she hated dealing with…them… Or maybe she should convince Vernon to take that job in Canada, the movers could pack their house in a couple of days and they would be gone and no one would know. She wasn't sure what to do...

(End Chapter One)

Ending Notes:

[1] Feel free to love Harry's teacher for giving him the Naruto manga.

[2] Obviously Deidara and Itachi are not evil and canon is altered slightly so they don't die.

[3] As for Deidara being Naruto's cousin? Why can't he be? Hair and eyes are the same. And I'm leaving just how they are related a secret.

[4] I am referring to how the village treated Kakashi after his father's disgrace and how his sensei and team helped him over come that.

[5] If you haven't guessed it, this is his father's nickname in Japanese. It means Yellow Flash, and if you don't know who that is then go read chapter 440.

Neph

P.S. I know that this is a long chapter, unfortunately, not all the chapters are going to be this long. Review please!


	3. Settling In

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Two)

Harry gaped as he held Sakura's hand as she showed him around Konoha. She had volunteered to give him a tour of his new home after breakfast. The buildings were so were different from the ones in England. They were much more colorful. Some of them were shaped funny and everything was so interesting!

They met Iruka on the tour, her old Academy sensei during the tour. Iruka was an older man with a scar across his nose and he wore his long brown hair in a high ponytail. Harry personally thought he looked a bit girly but he didn't dare say anything.

"Hello, Sakura," He said smiling warmly at his former student. She had grown a lot but who was the cute little boy with her? "Who's this Sakura-chan?" Iruka asked, kneeling to get a better look at the child.

"Hi Iruka-sensei! This is Harry, Team Seven is thinking about training him, would you be willing to help us?" Sakura asked. Iruka-sensei had always been dependable. If the team needed any help Iruka was the one to go to, he had been there for Naruto first after the Sandaime Hokage after all.

Iruka crouched in front of the boy, "Hello Harry," he smiled, "I'm Iruka."

"Hi." Harry said shyly. This man looked nice and Sakura-onee seemed to be happy to see him so he didn't seem that bad.

"May I touch your head?" Iruka asked, "I want to see how much Chakra you have." He explained to the frightened child. It was something all Academy instructors did on the first day with their students, and if Team Seven was planning on training this kid they needed to know how much chakra he had and what they had to work with.

Harry nodded. "Ok..." he was nervous, but since Sakura-onee-chan trusted him he wasn't scared. It was just; _all_ adults made him a bit apprehensive. He hadn't been able to trust his Aunt or Uncle, his caretakers, so it made it hard to trust adults in general.

Iruka slowly moved his hand to Harry's head, noting the way the boy watched it and almost flinched before he rested it gently on the messy black hair. He closed his eyes and Harry followed his example. When he opened them a few moments later he smiled into the green eyes. "You have as much Chakra as Sasuke and Sakura!"

"What does that mean?" Harry asked. As much as Sakura-onee and Sasuke-onii?

Sakura explained and the boy gaped at her, "is that how I turned mean old Mrs. Turley's hair blue?"

"I've never heard of a jutsu that can do that… but maybe." Sakura told him. Better not tell Naruto though… he was still quite the prankster. "We had better not tell Naruto though…" She grinned at Harry secretively.

He grinned at her, "She was suppose to give me a sticker for my spelling test, but said I cheated and gave it to my cousin instead, so he had two and I had none."

"I see. I say she deserved it." Sakura told him, giggling. If Harry was supposed to get something for a good grade then he should be given whatever it was they gave!

He nodded, "Who are they?" He asked pointing to the Hokage Monument.

"Those are the leaders of our village, Harry-chan, Senju Hashirama, his brother, Senju Tobirama, their student Sarutobi Hiruzen, Namikaze Minato the Student of Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama's teammate, and our current Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade-sama, my Shishou. Each of them was the strongest in the village at the time of their reign." Sakura told him. "Naruto's dream is to have his head up there."

"Wow," Harry said covering a yawn; his body was telling him it was way past his bedtime. But the sun was high in the sky, around noon. He stiffened when he noticed another man staring at him, "Sakura, who is that?" He pointed to the man.

Sakura blinked, turning. "Who? Oh, Ibiki-san," Sakura said nodding to the man.

"Haruno," the ANBU came over to her, "I heard you had an unexpected guest."

"He is Morino Ibiki; he's the head of our T&I Department." She told Harry quietly before turning to speak with the ANBU. Sakura nodded. "This is Harry, we found him injured in Team Seven's training grounds this morning and found signs of child abuse when we treated him."

Ibiki was torn, he was supposed to question strangers, but if this child was abused… "Where are you taking him?"

"Right now I was just giving him a tour." She told him. "Later, when he is more relaxed and comfortable here I will be bringing him to Shishou."

He nodded stiffly, "Let me know when that is and I will be there with her."

"I will, but be careful with him, ok?" She asked imploringly. This was important!

His expression softened when he saw the boy lean closer into Sakura, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll use silk gloves."

"Thank you." She turned back to Harry. "It's almost lunch time, how about I take you to Naruto's favorite place?"

"But I already had a meal today!" Harry said confused. He never had more than one meal…

"But you must be hungry..." The hand that wasn't holding Harry's clenched into a fist. If she ever met the people who did this to such a wonderful child… they would learn what fear really was. "A child your age should be eating three meals a day..."

"Dudley ate more than that," Harry giggled, "he was huge too," he held out his hands to show the size of his cousin, "I'm not very hungry, but I'll eat if you want me to."

Her eyes widened slightly. Harry must be severely under weight! "Then you are going to eat as much Ramen as you can ok?" She smiled painfully. She'd have to talk to Ino and her father about therapy. It would be the first thing on her to-do list after going with him to meet Tsunade. She pulled him towards Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.

Harry managed one small bowl before he turned slightly green from eating too much, "its okay Harry, you did good." Sakura said touching the messy black hair. Harry yawned sleepily, his stomach full and his eyes heavy.

Sakura finished her bowl and without asking picked Harry up and carried him back to the Uchiha compound. Sasuke should be done with his bedroom by now. Hopefully he would wake up for dinner.

(End Chapter Two)

I know this is about half as long as the previous chapter, but this looked like a gook place to divide the chapters. Please don't hate me; there will a few more around this size. I will do my best to make them as long as possible, at least 1000 words promise.

Neph


	4. Becoming Part of the Team

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Three)

Harry snuggled on something comfortable. He didn't really remember falling asleep, but he knew he had to be dreaming, cause when he opened his eyes he was on a bed (even though it was on the floor) and in a room, and not in the cupboard.

"Hey, you're up!" Called Sakura's excited/happy voice from the door. Harry looked so comfortable in that futon.

Harry scrambled off the bed, "I'm sorry," he said hastily remaking it; "I didn't mean to mess it up!"

"This is your room silly." Sakura giggled. "Dinner is almost ready, but we need you to help us finish the paperwork first ok?"

Harry froze then looked around. The bedroom was even bigger than Dudley's, the walls changed color from the ceiling to the floor. On the east wall near the floor there was a large red-orange ball representing the sun. Under the sun was what looked like the grass floor of a valley. The rising sun was in a mountain pass but those were the only parts of the valley walls to be seen. The rest of the walls but for the west one were decorated with trees. The ceiling and part of the east wall looked like the dawn sky. On the west wall a panorama of Konoha from the top of the Hokage Monument was depicted, the symbolism in the room fit. Harry knew what it meant. This was the beginning of a new chapter in his life. There were two camouflaged doors that Harry could just make out; one leading to his new bathroom and the other leading to a closet. "My room?" He asked in a whisper, "the whole thing?"

"Yep, even the bathroom. Now come on." Sakura took his hand. "You can look around later."

He shyly followed Sakura, sure that it had all been a dream before, but now… dreams like this didn't continue for so long and they didn't stay so nice. The bad man with the funny laugh and green light always woke him before too long.

"…Whose name do you think he'll want?" They heard Naruto ask.

"Don't push him Naruto," Sasuke said quietly, "we want him to feel comfortable not cornered."

"I know that…" Naruto was thinking about taking his Father's name soon, and although he had Deidara… he still felt alone sometimes. Kakashi was the very last of his family also, but Harry hadn't spent a lot of time with him at all.

Deidara gave him a sympathetic squeeze of the shoulder; he remembered what it was like to be alone after his family had been killed.

Naruto gave him a thankful smile.

Harry came in behind Sakura watching the people looking at him and trying not to tremble, what if they figured out they didn't want him? "Come sit down Harry!" They wanted to cement Harry's ties to the village now before they did anything else.

He hovered nervously than moved to sit next to Sasuke. He had been the first to reach out to him. "We're almost done with the forms; you just have to pick a name Harry." Sasuke reassured him.

"A name?" Harry blinked confused as he stared at the funny characters on the scroll, "what does that mean?" He asked pointing to the top line.

Sasuke began reading what the scroll said, translating it for him.

"So…" Harry said barely daring to breathe. "I would be adopted by all of you?"

"Yes, you just have to pick which name you want to be registered under."

"But the only one I know is Ohhh-chi-ha!" Harry said.

Sasuke and Itachi laughed. "Ok, though, it's U-chi-ha."

Harry flushed, "sorry, U-chi-ha," he said pronouncing it carefully, "Harry Uchiha!"

And with that, the scroll was finished.

Sasuke nodded. "Sakura, since you have to go see Tsunade anyway, why don't you take the scroll with you and turn it in after dinner."

"Sure," she said smiling, "so my turn to make dinner right?" She stood up. "Sorry Sasuke-kun we are out of tomatoes!" She turned and walked to the kitchen and turned back giggling, "Just kidding!"

Sasuke pouted. "Don't do that to me…" He whined. They all knew that tomatoes were his favorite food; she pranked Naruto the same way, but nowhere near as often. Naruto was the Prank King for a reason after all. Teasing Sasuke had become one of her favorite pastimes after he had come back and loosened up.

The other ninja laughed, knowing how much the younger Uchiha heir loved his tomatoes and Harry watched wide-eyed, was he suppose to help? "Harry," Sasuke said bringing the boy's attention back to him, "Sakura explained a bit about Charka to you right?" He pulled out one of their textbooks causing Naruto to groan, and pulled the thin boy on his lap and began reading the first grade book to the boy, pointing at the letters and words to help him learn the language faster.

Harry loved it. "What's the words for brother and sister?" He asked.

The next half an hour before dinner was spent teaching Harry simple words and by dinner, Harry was able to 'read' them back to Sakura.

"Very good! We'll teach you to write too, and then..." She grinned.

333

Two days later Harry was walking nervously next to Sakura to visit Tsunade. He had begun learning basic moves and Chakra control and if Tsunade decided to send him away, he thought he might be able to continue learning a little on his own.

"Good morning Hokage-sama!" Sakura called cheerfully to her teacher.

"Good morning Sakura-chan, Ibiki has requested to be present," Tsunade said indicating the scarred man.

Sakura nodded. "This is little Uchiha Harry."

Harry waved shyly at the two adults. The only ones he trusted weren't in the room with him and he wanted to cling to and hide behind Sakura, but he was eight not two. So he couldn't do that.

"Tsunade-shishou, he was abused before we found him." Sakura told the Hokage quietly while Harry was distracted. Tsunade, being the best medic ever needed to know these things. She was the only parental figure the team had left after all. Kakashi didn't count because he was more of an older brother. And with Jiraiya and the Yondaime dead well...

The woman nodded and moved from behind her desk to a small sitting area, it would make Harry feel more comfortable if she didn't look like an authority figure. Ibiki grimaced but followed and Sakura sensing Harry's nervousness pulled the boy onto her lap, cuddling with him.

"We felt that it was best to cement his ties to us and the village before doing anything else; especially if his abusers came after him." Sakura explained. "They haven't yet, but it's only been a few days and they might not know he's gone just yet... This way, even if they do find him it would be kidnapping if he were to suddenly disappear."

"Harry," Tsunade said, "I know your name is Uchiha now, but will you please tell me what it was before?" This was critical information, even if he never acknowledged the name again; it needed to go into his file.

"Potter... Harry Potter." He replied quietly. He really hated his old name; the only thing he associated with it was pain. Harry was determined to never answer to that name again.

Tsunade smiled, "thank you Harry, I know that was scary, can you tell me where you lived before? Kakashi showed me the coin you let him borrow, it's pretty cool looking." She said handing it back to the boy. "Whose picture is on it?"

"Queen Elizabeth of England," Harry answered promptly, proud of himself for remembering her name. His cousin never could.

"Wow, she must be really important!" Sakura said, "Queen Elizabeth! Is that where you lived; in England? Or did you live in Wales or Ireland?"

"Surrey. It's near London, the capital." Harry said proudly and Sakura grinned at him. He'd always had a good memory, better than Dudley's.

"So we need to figure out how old you are and when your birthday is so we can plan a party. Naruto loves to party!" Sakura told him with a smile. But he always got embarrassed when it was their turn to plan his. They all took great pleasure in setting up Naruto's parties.

"… July 31… 1980…" Harry answered, hesitantly. He didn't want them to be angry with him. Harry was sure that this information would anger them.

"So that makes you… eight?" Ibiki asked while both medics had to suppress growls, Harry looked like he could be six or seven not eight!

Harry nodded, looking down at Sakura-ane's feet. What if this wasn't enough? What if this made them so angry they didn't want to keep him?

They asked easy, light questions and Harry began to relax, maybe she wouldn't send him back to Uncle Vernon after all! He didn't know why Sakura-ane was hugging him tighter though…

After an hour, Tsunade sat back, "are you satisfied Ibiki-san?"

"Yes. If I ever meet those people though… I'll leave them for Team Seven." He got up to make his report. "But he won't be in the best of health." Team Seven could be _very_ creative when they were angry. They seemed quite attached to this kid already. That meant nothing but good things for him. The Hokage was very fond of that team.

"So, I can stay right?" Harry asked softly as if afraid she would say no. She had the final say. And he was still a bit scared that she might say no.

"Team Seven is your family now." Tsunade told him. "If they try to take you back, they will have to kill all of Team Seven and their sensei, and that includes me gaki, to take you away from here." The Hokage was quick to reassure him.

"And you remember what Sakura said about the Hokage right?" Ibiki added into the conversation. He had been told only a few days ago, and it wasn't a fact that was easy to forget, especially when the Hokage was a very temperamental old woman.

Harry nodded, "You're the strongest in the village!" he proclaimed, proud of the fact that he remembered something so important.

Tsunade nodded. "That means that they have to get through me to get to you." She smiled at the little boy. She liked the kid already; he was like a quieter Naruto. But she was sure that in there somewhere was the determination and the will to not let anything hurt those he cared about.

"Now Sakura, why don't you tell me what you have planned for his training?" She asked, genuinely interested in what they had planned for the adorable little boy. Maybe she could help him too, she wanted to. Each member of Team Seven, herself included had gone through unimaginable pain and shed so many tears that she often thought that they had no more to shed.

"We're grounding him in both chakra use and fighting styles," Sakura said, "when he can eat a full three meals a day, we will start him on strength training and muscle building. Sasuke says that he has nightmares so he and Itachi are teaching him meditation techniques and we are keeping Kakashi-sensei's books away from him. Far away."

Tsunade nodded. "They aren't allowed in the house are they?" The Hokage joked as she got up and went to her bookcase. She pulled out two scrolls. "These have the basics in several different ninja arts, including weapons, medicine and Fuuinjutsu, just in case. I want Naruto to go through the Fuuinjutsu too, seeing as his father was a master at it and his mother's clan was known for it."

Harry's eyes light up as he took the scrolls, "I can learn what Naruto learns too!" He looked back smiling at Sakura, "I can't wait!"

"Of course! You just have to be careful." Tsunade patted Harry on the head.

He smiled shyly up at her, "So… that means I can stay right? No going back right?"

"They have to kill me to take you away. Now, it's late, why don't you go home and rest? You can start in the morning."

His smile widened and he nodded and surprised himself by giving an adult a hug, "thank you," he whispered.

"Anything for my favorite brats." Tsunade told him; which, of course, meant all of Team Seven. They might have been brats, but they were hers and she would do anything for them. She owed it to Jiraiya, to watch over them all. They were good kids. They were _her_ kids.

(End Chapter Thee)

I hope you enjoyed it!


	5. Nightmares and Reassurance

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Four)

Harry sat up quickly in bed, another nightmare disturbed his dreams and he looked around for his uncle wondering why the man hadn't started to thrash him for screaming. After about a minute of looking around, he remembered that he was in Konoha, in the Uchiha Compound, not in the cupboard under the stairs of Number Four Privite Dr. in Little Winging Surry. That fact alone helped him to calm his breathing as his door opened.

Naruto stuck his head into the room. "Nightmare? I used to have nightmares all the time before Dei-itoko and Itachi found me." Naruto moved to sit next to him on the bed. "So, you want to tell me about it?"

"I got a gold star at school for passing my spelling test," Harry sniffled, "Dudley got a really bad grade and Uncle V-Vernon said I cheated and stole Dudley's A and Dudley had my bad grade instead." It was rather easy to explain. It was a dream he got often, though this was the first time he had been asked about it instead of getting yelled at.

"That makes no sense. It sounds like your efforts were being sabotaged. What were your study habits like?" Naruto asked, pulling Harry into his lap after sitting down; much like Deidara had always done when he had had a nightmare. Naruto wrapped his strong arms around his new younger brother's small, frail frame to offer comfort.

"Well," Harry sniffed looking down at his fingers, "I wasn't able to study cause I had to do all the chores and stuff, but all I had to do was hear or read something and I had it memorized."

"And Dudley's?" Naruto asked gently. This was something important, though it would take a while, they would be able to calm most of Harry's fears and chase away his nightmares.

"He didn't study either cause he was too busy playing or watching TV, but he could barely remember how to spell his own name or count." It was really pathetic but Harry had never dared say anything.

"Then I'd say your study habits were much better. It sounds kind of like what happened to me in the academy…" Naruto explained, hugging him tightly. Naruto was planning on taking up his father's name soon, but he didn't plan to until he learned Fuuinjutsu, or the Hiraishin. "Even if you only had time to skim over the material you were learning; you still did more than your cousin."

"Was I bad?" Harry asked, "Is that why Aunt Tuney, Dudley and Uncle Ver-Vernon hated me?"

"No! Just like I wasn't." Naruto gave him a light squeeze. "You want to know a secret? My father sealed the most powerful demon into me, to save this village. The Demon's chakra has gotten me out of a lot of situations that would have killed me otherwise. My father wanted me to be seen as a hero for keeping the demon at bay, but when I was younger the villagers didn't see me that way. I was hated by almost everyone. And my academy days were sabotaged. The teachers ignored me when I had questions and deliberately taught me my Taijutsu forms wrong. Eventually that stopped, the day that I was put on Kakashi-sensei's team. And now, everything is as it should have been."

"My Aunt said my mom and dad died in an accident, but I remember…" Harry shuddered and buried he face in Naruto's shoulder, tears wetting the fabric. He remembered in his dreams, and those dreams scared him even worse than the one he just had.

"Sh… It's ok. I vaguely remember that day to. I remember Father's voice and words, and Mother's too. But I don't remember anything else. I'm sure your parents died protecting you, like mine did." Naruto whispered into his little brother's ear soothingly. It was all Harry could hope for, nobody here knew his parents, unlike Naruto's.

"They did, I remember my momma pleading and the laughter…and green light, just like my eyes… sometimes I hate my eyes," Harry murmured.

"I understand. Kakashi-sensei said something really similar to me once... 'You have his eyes, and every time I have to turn you away to train Sasuke all I see are his eyes, looking at me, full of disappointment, like I failed a training exercise'." Naruto gave him a sympathetic smile. "Before I knew what he was talking about, that my father was his sensei, I hated my eyes, because they made sensei uncomfortable."

"How long until I'm not scared of my Uncle anymore?" Harry asked looking at Naruto with pleading eyes. He didn't was to be afraid forever…

"I don't know, maybe never." Naruto told Harry, giving him a thoughtful look. "Because, I may talk like I'm not afraid of the Demon inside me… but the demon terrifies me. It's okay to be afraid Harry, but you have to be able to face your fear. That's what courage is. My father once said, 'Below courage there is nothing.' And someone else; I don't know who said; 'Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear'."

Harry gave a miserable nod, than yawned sleepily, "What are we going to do tomorrow? Sakura said I can finally start training because I eat all my meals now."

"I'm not sure, we'll find out tomorrow. I can't wait to start on Fuuinjutsu though! That was Father's field, and Mother's clan was known for it as well." Naruto said his voice full of excitement. "Would you like me to stay?"

"'til I fall asleep?" Harry said waiting to be mocked for being a baby.

"I will stay even after you sleep if you want me to, to keep your nightmares away." Naruto informed him, rubbing his whiskered cheek against the little boy's.

Harry looked at him with pleading eyes and Naruto smiled and tucked him into bed, "Sleep Harry," he said softly, "I'll be here."

"Night, Naruto-nii-chan." Harry whispered as he was once again claimed by the sand man.

Naruto watched as Harry's breathing evened out into dreams and moved from the bed to the window and stared at the stars, "Hi mom, hi dad," he whispered with barely a noise, sounding slightly forlorn. "I missed you today. But then, I miss you every day..."

"Naruto?" A quiet voice came from the door and Naruto turned, allowing him to see Sasuke's shadow, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah Sasuke, I'm fine. Are there days when you miss your parents more than others?" Naruto asked, not looking at his teammate. "Because some days I can't help but wish that they were still here..."

"Aa," Sasuke agreed softly coming into the room and staring at the pale face of his new brother, "Harry-chan had a nightmare too?"

"Yeah, he did." Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "It sounds like what happened to me actually..."

Sasuke hid a grimace; he hated remembering the bastard he had been. He had tried to apologize a number of times, but Sakura and Naruto wouldn't let him nor hear of it. Kakashi had just smiled at him and patted him on the head like he was still 12 and pulled out his book and walked away, "Look I..." he broke off not knowing what to say.

"I know; it's alright. We all go through a stage like that." Naruto shivered as he remembered just how annoying and loud he had been at age twelve.

Sasuke hid a sigh and nodded joining Naruto at the window, "and yes, I still miss them, every day."

"At least you got to know them right?" Naruto asked, eyeing his best friend a bit jealously.

"Hmm..." Sasuke said, "I remember smells and impressions more than anything," he leaned against the other side of the window sill, "Mom's baking and humming in the kitchen, father's rare smiles."

"I remember their voices and words, but I can't remember their faces." Naruto confessed. His team was the only family he had ever known.

Harry sighed softly and curled up in his sleep, "He'll be fine." Sasuke said, "He has us."

Naruto nodded. "He called me Naruto-nii-chan. Konohamaru is the only other person who does and he's been doing it less and less."

Sasuke hid a smirk, "well if you need me call..." he said walking to the door.

"Of course, Sasuke." As if he would do anything less. Naruto turned back to the stars and watched as they slowly faded from view and the sun rose. He enjoyed the warmth of the rising sun and seeing his father's face on the mountain reminded him that even if his father wasn't physically there, he was still watching over his only son.

"Today starts a new chapter of our lives." Naruto breathed. "Those that want Harry, come and try to take him from us..."

(End Chapter Four)


	6. Hogwarts Happennings

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

(Chapter Five)

Three years later the time finally came to send Harry his letter inviting him to Hogwarts. The Headmaster's office was in frenzy as it was every year. But this year was even worse because one of the Deputy heads had started getting unexplained head aches. And the Headmaster making a fuss was slowing them down even more. They couldn't complain though. Usually the old fogie let them do their jobs unhindered. This year however, they weren't so lucky. He was driving his two Deputies up the wall and making the usual headaches even worse.

Dumbledore looked up from the paperwork spread across his desk as Professor McGonagall came in, "Harry Potter is missing from the list of first years, Albus." She just knew that this year was going to be one of those years. Why couldn't Albus just let her work? Sure a celebrity was coming but… she'd have thought Dumbledore would be ecstatic. He wasn't, and the poor child was missing, had been for several years now. A name not showing up on the list or in the letters usually meant one of two things: either the person was dead, or the connection to the name was gone, they had a new identity. Minerva hoped to high heaven, that it was the latter.

"What?" He asked in a concerned tone that bordered on anger. How could the Potter boy have just disappeared? If they didn't find him, all of Dumbledore's plans would very quickly unravel. He gestured for his female Deputy to put the letters on the desk so he could flip through them.

She put down the stack of letters and he quickly flipped through them, "Harry Uchiha?" Dumbledore looked pensively at an oddly addressed letter, "Uchiha Compound, Konoha - Have you ever heard the family name of Uchiha?"

It irked Minerva quite a bit since Albus-too-important-Dumbledore had never gone through the letters before and it was holding her up. Several newbloods were expecting her later in the afternoon and they wouldn't appreciate her being late at all. "No I have not; Severus believes that the boy is new blood."

He shook his head. "Send it anyway." They'd teach the mudblood a lesson. They shouldn't be allowed here but that wasn't something Dumbledore could do anything about.

"But what about Potter?" Minerva asked flipping back through the letters in case it was hidden (did Albus know what a missing name could mean?) there. It was still missing. "Should we send it to Surrey anyway?" her old friend's attitude was making her very nervous.

"Yes." They needed that damn boy!

She came back to his office twenty minutes later, annoyed and perplexed. "The owl refuses to take Potter's letter," she reported indignantly. Such a thing had never happened before and she could only speculate as to why. Was the boy simply missing? Or was it worse? This was holding her up! She would surely be late now…

"I want you to take it personally Severus." Dumbledore said to his other deputy, Severus Snape, who was conveniently leaning against the door frame.

"…and why can't Minerva or Hargrid take Potter's letter," Severus Snape asked frowning at the offending envelope in his hand. He always hated the rush to get things done before each year, he and Minerva had a system that they used normally. Snape would sort the letters to see who was newblood and who was oldblood. He didn't particularly dislike any of them. He and Minerva agreed however, that it was fun to unnerve the firsties that came every year. And for the newbloods, it was always Minerva that went; she never got frustrated with them like he did. Hagrid didn't help out often, but even he would be a better person to send.

"Because I want you to go." Dumbledore told him stubbornly. Severus would set the boy strait.

He scowled, "what is Potter too spoiled to take his letter like a normal child?" Severus asked sarcastically inwardly wincing as his headache got worse. Of course he didn't mean it; really, his headache was acting up, each mention of his hated cousin in comparison only made it worse.

"Yes." Dumbledore answered tersely.

His glare should have set the paper on fire, "don't expect me to be nice to the brat," Severus hissed and stormed out of the office and castle. Once past the gates he apparated to Privet Drive and began looking for the house. Why was he stuck with the job of informing his estranged cousin? Especially when he had these chronic, excruciating headaches just thinking about both Harry and his father, it made it very hard to work. And headache potions did nothing to relieve the pain.

Dumbledore smirked. "That's what I want..." He smirked internally, Snape would set the boy right and then he'd get his little pawn back.

Severus stormed down the street looking for #4, "You're it!" a child yelled and he turned to see a small Asian child dart from around a large tree in front of number four, her older brother chasing her and giggling madly.

His eye twitched. What the hell? Where were the Dursleys? On the other hand, if they weren't here then he was off the hook. He could already feel his headache dissipating.

He stepped around the toys strewn all over the walk and rang the door, blinking in surprise when the children's mother answered the door with another child on her hip and a letter in her hand addressed to Albus Dumbledore, "Are you him?"

"No." Snape blinked. Why would she think that he Severus Snape was an old man who could very well be senile in his old age? Not that he really blamed her.

She scowled, "I am suppose to give this letter to someone who knocks on the door today, are you looking for the Dursleys or Harry Potter?" She held up said letter for him to see. She didn't like Snape's attitude at all.

"Yes." Snape nodded, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. This wasn't good. "I am looking for them and I work for Dumbledore."

She thrust the letter at him, "the Dursley moved, last I heard Mr. Dursley died in an accident and his son is in Juvie," she sniffed, "Harry Potter disappeared four years ago. It's in the letter," she backed away and began to close the door. It couldn't have happened to better people in her opinion. If that little boy had been on her doorstep she'd have taken him in and treated him as one of her own.

Severus blinked. "Thank you." Dumbledore would not be pleased… but he couldn't help feeling relieved. Maybe now these nearly crippling head aches would go away. He only got them when Dumbledore mentioned the elder Potter, why he wasn't sure. Once he had loved his cousin very much and he wasn't sure how that love turned to hate. As long as he didn't think about James his head didn't hurt. It hurt thinking about him.

She nodded, "He was a nice kid," she said turning back, "but was always bruised and very skittish around adults." She nodded again and closed the door. Severus left. Hopefully if they did find him he'd be alive. She hoped the boy was ok, and with a new, loving family. He deserved it.

Dumbledore scowled at the letter several hours later, "Harry just disappeared," he said throwing the letter down in disgust, "we need to find him." The boy needed to learn a lesson. He would pay when they found him, he swore it.

Severus nodded, feeling a little uneasy. While he may hate the brat, Dumbledore was acting really out of character. Something wasn't right here and with the preparations for the beginning off the year going on there was nothing he or Minerva could do right now. Any investigating would have to be done later.

(End Chapter Five)

I'm sorry that the lengths of the chapters keep changing! But at least it's over a thousand words!

Neph


	7. Preperations

Hidden Tears/Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Six)

Harry smiled as he recognized the tactic that Sakura was using in their sparing. "Can't catch me, Sakura-chan!" he teased darting out of her reach.

"Oh really? Sorry Otouto, but I'm just better!" She caught him easily; laughing her younger brother was so cute! Her fingertips began ghosting over his sides, expertly finding his ticklish points

"Hey!" Harry wiggled trying to get away, "No fair!" He laughed as Sakura found his ticklish spots, "No fair!"

She giggled. "Since when do we Ninja play fair? Besides, Sasuke, Naruto and I are getting ready for the Jounin exams."

Harry smiled; life had been wonderful the last three years. Yes he was still afraid of his uncle and had the occasional nightmares, but now he had someone who calmed him and helped him and... Loved him!

His studies were going so well. He was a genin already, and he was almost ready to take the Chuunin exams.

An owl hooted nearby causing both Sakura and Harry to freeze and look around for the bird. They located it in a nearby tree. Sakura signaled to Naruto, telling him in Konoha Sign Language that there was an intruder of the avian variety.

Naruto snuck up behind, climbing the tree soundlessly and captured the bird. "Got it!"

The owl squawked dropping the letter it was carrying, than clicked it's beak in anger at Naruto's handling of him.

"Sh, sh… It's ok…" Naruto crooned. He was the expert bird handler; he took care of the Uchiha messenger Hawks. They put up with his slightly rough handling, they even liked it. It was a game to them. None of them had expected him to be so good at it. It was a pleasant surprise.

Sakura picked up the letter, "Harry Uchiha," she read. Frowning she handed it to the green-eyed boy.

Harry opened it and read the letter with just a little bit of difficulty. After three years of just Japanese, being immersed in it… there just weren't books or scrolls in any other language here. He'd gotten a bit rusty with his English. But he would never completely forget.

"Hogwarts… Magic…" He muttered, "Is that all the strange things I can do magic? Like turning Ino's hair bright blue?"

"Maybe." Sakura answered as she giggled. That whole incident had been extremely amusing. Even Ino (who had been the victim) had laughed.

At the time Harry had been terrified, it had been about four months after he had appeared in Konoha and he was positive they were going to send him back, now they laughed about it. Ino learned not to tease him so much about his then short, unruly hair. Now it was longer than his older brother Itachi's. And he wore it in a ponytail, just like Itachi and Deidara.

The first thing that Naruto had done upon seeing Ino with blue hair was laugh!

Ino had had no idea what Naruto was laughing about having recently changed her hair style so it was out of her face and grew frustrated when Naruto couldn't even talk. It was Sai (another, newer member of Team Seven that he wasn't that close to yet, like Yamato-sensei) asking why Ino had changed her hair to sky blue that clued her in.

After that, she blinked and pulled out a mirror. Soon after, she was also laughing.

Instead of the beating that he had expected he ended up in Ino's lap being cuddled and tickled. Since then, Ino had taken to dying her hair different shades of blue, confusing her father to no end while making Rookie Nine and Team Gai laugh every time he wondered why out loud. Besides, they found that she looked good with blue hair.

Harry bit his lip as he looked at the letter, "What do you think, should I go?"

"It's up to you, we will stand by any decision you make." Sakura told him.

He put it in his back pocket, "I think that we should talk about it..." he pounced, "after we train!"

"Okay!" And training began anew.

Naruto just laughed as Sakura easily dodged Harry and tackled him, "She got ya Harry!" Harry giggled.

"Oi!" Deidara came into the training field, "have you forgotten? It's dinner time!"

"Hai Dei-itoko!" Naruto called.

They all headed inside to eat. Dinner was filled with laughter and rowdiness, but as Harry looked around the table at his family, he realized he wouldn't have it any other way. "So Harry," Itachi said when the dishes were done and everyone was winding down, "let's see the letter."

Harry pulled the letter out and handed it over. "Here Itachi-ani."

The letter was read and they all began discussing what they thought, "Hold it," Sakura said and pulled out paper and began listing the pros and cons.

Pro - learn to control magic…

Con - away from home…

There were only a few pros and the cons went on and on.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "If Harry goes, there is a chance that he will be placed with those people again…"

Harry flipped the envelope over and pointed to the name, "they only know I'm Harry Uchiha not… that other kid."

"I suppose, but it's still a risk. Is that a risk you want to take?" Sasuke asked; Naruto was right after all…

"But if I don't…" He bit his lip and looked away, "I… had a nightmare last night," he took a deep breath, "When I woke up my room looked like a cyclone had hit it, what if… what if they teach me how to control that?"

"Then… there is only one thing to do." Naruto said standing up and heading to the door.

"Where… Where are you going?" Harry asked trying to hide his fear that his family would abandon him or hurt him, like his old family did. It had only been three years after all. A lot of the underlying damage was still there from his time with the Dursleys.

Naruto turned in the doorway to look back at Harry. "I'm going to ask Hokage-sama for a long term reconnaissance mission." He grinned. "What? Do you think we would let you go alone?"

Harry didn't even hesitate as he hopped up and ran to his brother hugging him tightly around the middle, "Thank you," he whispered.

Naruto ruffled Harry's hair. "This is Team Seven business, where you go we go. Besides, how will you keep up with your training if we don't go with you?"

Harry laughed and sat back down, letting Sakura pull him into a hug so his head leaned on her shoulder, "So that means we need to write this McGonagall back and tell her to expect…?" He looked at the table, "How many new students?"

"Four! You will have to be a sensei Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke said in a sing-song tone.

He slowly lowered his book, his one visible eye wide in surprise, "Only if Itachi and Deidara go as well. I am not going to be tortured alone-I mean, teach alone!"

The three nodded. "Hai Sensei!" He looked smug as he put his book back up.

"Hogwarts won't know what hit it!" Sakura declared.

"Neither will the other teachers when they get a load of Kakashi-sensei's books..." Harry staged whispered to Sakura.

Sakura giggled, nodding. "I can't wait to see their faces!"

Naruto left while Harry was distracted and returned five minutes later. "Ok, we have our mission. Harry, do you want to use the owl from earlier or one of our hawks?"

"Let's keep a low profile for now," Harry said thinking about the strategy that Sasuke was trying to pound into his head, "if we use one of ours, it might alert them that we are different." He looked over at Sasuke to see what he thought.

Sasuke nodded. "Naruto, go get the owl while Kakashi finishes the letter."

The owl hooted with great dignity as he accepted the letter from Kakashi's hand. When it flew away, the room dissolved into giggles at its behavior "Even our hawks don't act that way..." Itachi snickered.

Deidara waited until everyone had settled down then gave a soft hoot, mimicking perfectly the owl setting everyone off again, "Thank you everyone," Harry said, "You don't know how much this means to me."

"Of course we know Harry," Naruto told him. "At one point in time, each and every one of us has been alone. And then we found each other." Naruto hugged him. "But I can't help but feel that there is one more person who is supposed to be here, but isn't."

"Maybe… we will find this person at this school…" Naruto mused.

(End Chapter Six)

Man… this thing is taking forever to edit! I hope you liked it!


	8. The Train Ride

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Seven)

Dumbledore looked up as McGonagall came in the room; in her hand was the letter that Kakashi wrote. "Albus, we have potential candidates for Defense, History (now that Binns had _finally_ retired) and Muggle Studies, as well as four students instead of one from Konoha. But still nothing from Potter," He had to know what the boy's name disappearing meant… right?

Dumbledore nodded absently. He hadn't really heard her, he was to busy trying to salvage his plans.

"Albus!" McGonagall said, "Are you paying attention, Harry Potter is still missing! What are you going to do when Fudge shows up on September 1st ready to greet the child?" That had to be one of the stupidest ideas she had ever heard!

"Hmm…I don't know… Find a child that looks like him most likely." Dumbledore told her absently. On spell a child to, he had just the person in mind too.

Minerva's jaw dropped and she hastily backed out of the room and looked for her partner as Deputy (she was in charge of students, Snape was in charge of teachers/classes), "Albus has finally lost it, Severus," she said wringing her hands together, "he wants to kidnap a child that looks like Harry Potter and have him pretend to be the boy!"

"What should we do then? If he can't find a child… Do you think he would use the man in the catacombs?" Severus asked her. He remembered the man from nineteen years before; he had destroyed half the school trying to escape. Why the man, Monster really, had been brought to the school, he didn't know and he was sure he didn't want to.

Minerva paled even more, "I think…I think that Albus… he needs to be retired Severus, can you contact Lucius and see what he thinks?"

"I'm already on it." Severus told her, trying to sooth her fears. That man in the catacombs was far too dangerous to be awake! To be honest, he was just as scared as she was of him.

"Molly," Albus said smiling at the plump redheaded woman's head sticking out of the fireplace, "how would Ron like a job pretending to be Harry Potter until the real one is found?"

"I'm sure he'd love it."

o…X…o

Harry Potter strutted into the Platform looking at all those around him like they were scum. He curled his lips into a sneer at Malfoy, and then at Longbottom, he was too good for the likes of them.

Team Seven followed the imposter and interacted with the ones he had dismissed so easily. Easily making friends with them, the shy insecure boy and the boy who was forced to hide behind his father, it was easy to make them both smile at the offering of friendship.

The twins whispered about their little brother promising dark things if he curled his lip at them one more time. They sent him glares every once and a while. Being scorned by your own brother was not something that Fred and George liked.

Naruto walked up to them. "Is something wrong?"

George looked around making sure no one was listening in, "that's not the real Harry Potter; it's our little brother Ron who is pretending to be the Boy-Who-Lived. What a prat."

"Prime pranking material," Fred agreed, nodding. The boy needed to learn his lesson.

They saw the grin that spread slowly across Naruto's face. "I'm Naruto, how would you like to meet the real Harry 'Potter'…?"

"How?" The duo chimed in, their heads tilting to the side in curiosity. Both were eager to meet the true hero.

"He's my little brother." Naruto gestured to Harry who was talking happily with Neville and Sasuke about plants.

"But where's his scar?" George asked as he stared in shock at the long haired boy.

"We had it removed; Sakura-chan said it felt full of evil." Naruto told them, watching their faces.

Fred paled, "evil; you mean like You-Know-Who?"

"No I don't know who, but I think I understand what you mean. There was someone like that at home too; no one liked mentioning Madara either." Naruto replied, shrugging. "They still don't."

"We need to get aboard," Lee came up to them, "that Harry Potter is acting like he is a king and trying to hold court. One of the seventh-year Ravenclaw's cursed him good and now his feet are on backwards."

Naruto laughed with them. "Come find us later ok?"

Naruto heard Lee talking to the twins as they went into the train, "hey where's your brother? I brought that Giant Tarantula like you asked 'cause you said he loves spiders." The twins grinned but Naruto didn't hear what they said as he returned to the team. He could have used Sage Mode to listen in but felt that it wasn't worth it.

He waited until Neville was called over to his grandmother's side. "There is someone here pretending to be Harry Potter." He reported softly, "He's being a real jerk about it too."

"Let's get him then." Sasuke smirked, eager to get into the roll of prankster.

They climbed onto the train and Naruto nearly fell over laughing as 'Potter' tried to walk past him with his feet on backwards and antlers on his head.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Naruto exclaimed using a Reverse Oiroke no jutsu[1] on him. It was something he'd come up with not long ago. It did the same thing as the original, but instead of Naruto turning into a girl he could turn another person into one. He'd tested it on Sai when he had been particularly irritated with the boy. It used the target's chakra in a perpetual loop, almost like a Genjutsu but not. Even after all this time he still sucked at Genjutsu…

Ron screamed as he looked down and noticed things growing off his chest that should be… He put his hand down his pants and paled when he noticed he was missing his family jewels as well.

Team Seven laughed as they passed him. Kakashi, Itachi and Deidara following as they tried not to laugh and didn't quite succeed.

"You're not supposed to be mean to me!" Ron's yelled stomping his dainty foot and huffing and turning to find his mother to undo all the spells before falling on his face because he forgot his feet were still facing the wrong way.

"You are being indecent." Itachi reprimanded.

"Detention with me when we get to the school." Kakashi continued.

"For a month." Deidara finished.

"AHHHH!" Ron left the train to find his mom, "I don't want to be Harry Potter any more, mum. Tell Dumbledore he can get someone else to do it!"

"No you already agreed." Molly told her youngest son sternly. It would look very bad for their family if he went back on his word. It was now a matter of honor.

"I won't do it!" Ron stomped his foot again and fell over and began crying, "I won't!"

"You will." His mother wouldn't budge. Their family honor was at stake!

Ron stared in disbelief at his mother; she didn't really expect him to… "I am NOT HARRY POTTER BUT RON WEASLEY!" He yelled at the top of his lungs causing the whole station to stare at him. Molly undid the spells and shoved her son onto the train. Ron tried to slink into a compartment, not realizing it was the one where Lee had stowed his tarantula. The resulting scream had everyone laughing.

The train pulled out of the station and began its long journey towards Scotland. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura were studying via quizzing. "I can't believe I look like an eleven year old again," Sakura said than grinned at Sasuke, "should I start fangirling over you again? Oh Sasuke-kun..." she crooned mockingly.

"Please don't." Sasuke pleaded. "…unless you want to fan girl over Namikaze Naruto as well?" he joked; the whole team knew who Naruto's father was, even if Naruto wasn't ready to take his last name yet.

Sakura and Naruto fell into giggles at the desperate look in Sasuke's eyes, "I think," Naruto said slyly, "We should go back to trying to get a glimpse under Kakashi's mask."

It was a good thing that the Chuunin and Jounin exams had already happened, each of them had passed. Harry was now a Chuunin and Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were Jounin, like Kakashi, Itachi and Deidara.

"I don't know..." Sasuke gave his blonde teammate an uncertain look.

"I know we already know what he looks like," Sakura said noticing that Kakashi was watching them warily, "I would probably hide those fish lips [2] too." She giggled; it was so fun to tease their Sensei.

"Hey! I do _not_ have fish lips!" Kakashi argued, pouting under his mask.

The compartment dissolved again into laughter. Harry grinned, knowing that they were doing this to relieve his fear and tension.

Sakura grinned. "When we were 11 last time we weren't even Genin yet! Hmm… Naruto, you were a prankster… should we be pranksters this time around?"

Naruto grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, "Need you even ask?" They laughed again.

"Has anyone seen my toad?" Neville sighed when he came in.

"Let me check." Naruto replied. "Name?"

"Trevor," Neville said coming into the compartment, "he keeps slipping away, I don't know if it's because he doesn't like me or if he's hungry!"

Naruto nodded, flashing through the familiar hand signs with the ease of long practice. "Kuchiyose no jutsu! 'Kichi, I need you to find another Gama, named Trevor and bring him back, ok?" He asked the toad that had appeared in a puff of smoke after he'd touched the table.

Neville gasped at the brightly colored toad, "wow!"

Gamakichi nodded. "Snacks?"

"When you get back 'Kichi."

The frog gave a woebegone sigh and hopped out of the compartment.

They snickered.

"'Kichi and his snacks..." Sakura pretended to groan.

Ten minutes later, Gamakichi returned another toad in tow.

Naruto gave Gamakichi half their chocolate frogs.

"Isn't that cannibalism?" Harry asked as he watched the colorful frog eat the chocolate and talk to Trevor to find out why the frog was escaping.

"No, it's just chocolate." Neville told him.

Naruto asked, "So 'Kichi, why is Trevor always running off?"

"He was taken from his mate," Kichi said around his mouthful of chocolate. The stuff was really good! It made him feel pleasantly warm.

"I see... well, we'll have to see about finding her then, huh?" Naruto smiled, turning to Neville. "He just misses his girl, can't really blame him can you?"

Neville looked shocked, "I'm sorry Trevor, I didn't realize." Trevor seemed to nod.

"I'm sure 'Kichi and the others wouldn't mind looking for her, would you 'Kichi?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

He looked mournfully down at the now empty frog box than up at Naruto hopefully. He wanted more of that chocolate!

Naruto grinned and let him have the rest. "I'll get you more when she's found, ok?" He knew that Gamakichi would agree; anything for a fellow toad and Naruto after all.

The toad seemed to consider than sighed mournfully, hurried up and scooped up the frogs before Naruto could take them back and dismissed himself. They all laughed at the response before continuing what they were doing before. The rest of the trip was enjoyable.

(End Chapter Seven)

As you can tell Team Seven is really close, Sai and Yamato aren't here because when this was written I didn't know much about either of them and so, to not completely butcher their characters, they were left out. Except for the brief mentions and the flashback with Ino. This is after canon, Madara has already been taken out and Kabutomaru (you should know to whom I am referring it if you are currant on the manga) as such, I had to include the Artist and Mokuton user as they are a part of Team 7.

By now some of you have probably noticed that there is foreshadowing going on, you'll find out soon just what I have planned and I really think that you, my readers, will like it.

Footnotes:

[1] This is something that I came up with, for those who prefer the dub I will translate; the Oiroke no jutsu translates into Sexy technique, it turns Naruto into a female version of himself, I've always thought that it would be a complete transformation, since he sucks at Genjutsu and Bunshin/Clone (which he fails at epically) and Henge/Transform are Genjutsu. A Reverse is just that, as I have explained. If Naruto used it on Sasuke we would get Sasuko, it's that simple.

[2] Anime filler reference! …I really have to get around to watching that episode… it promises to be so funny…

Neph


	9. Arriving at Hogwarts

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Eight)

"Remember Harry, it doesn't matter where we end up. We are a team and we stick together no matter what." Naruto told their younger brother. After they had settled into their compartment a few hours later, after the trolley came by and they were munching on their bought snacks.

Harry looked nervous as the train sped through the country side, the door to their compartment opened, "Okay, rumor is Harry Potter is on the train." They all looked up. A girl with bushy hair stood nervously in the door, "Is he in here?"

Team Seven turned to Harry. "She looks like she could be a good friend." Sakura commented quietly. Since this new girl was looking for him it was really his choice on whether or not he got close to her.

"Come in and sit down." Naruto invited. He was an excellent judge of character. She looked like the kind of friend that would be nice to have. Really smart but kind of shy. Team Seven could fix that no problem. She reminded them of Sakura in the beginning.

Harry smiled at her, "I'm Harry Uchiha," Harry said holding out his hand to her politely, "you are?"

"Hermione Granger." She returned as she sat down.

Hermione turned to the others expectantly and smiled shyly when they introduced themselves, "are you excited about going to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I can't wait to learn!" Sakura exclaimed. "I'm training to be a Healer and thought that this would be a good way to expand my knowledge."

"Really?" Hermione grinned hiding her smile behind her hand, "my parents are dentists!"

Sakura nodded. "Naruto here wants to lead our home village."

"That is so cool!" Hermione said, "I really don't know what I want to do, but I want to help people."

"Then why not become a Healer like me?" Sakura asked. "I can teach you a bit and give you tips."

"Seriously?" Hermione asked excitedly, "I want to be a doctor as long as it doesn't involve putting my hands in people's mouths," she shuddered.

"That does sound gross..." Sakura replied, looking at Naruto. "When do you think Kakashi-sensei will be showing up?"

"It depends," Naruto sat back smugly, "how long do you think it will be before he finds all of his books that we hid?"

"I bet he's already found most of them, if not all…" Sasuke drawled.

"Not all," Harry said and pulled out a book from his bag, "I hid one in my bag this morning while he was looking for the ones that Sakura hid."

Kakashi poofed in and grabbed the book, mock glaring at his kids. "You kids are not very nice to your dear Sensei..." He griped. The kids burst into giggles (well all except Sasuke who just smirked). He gave them an eye smile.

He poofed out to go up on the roof to read, Harry giggled more, "Just wait until he finds out that it's a blank book. Pervert-sensei [1] gave it to me to pull a joke on Kakashi!" Now even Sasuke was laughing.

"HARRY!" They heard from the roof. Kakashi poofed back into the compartment with a slight glare on his face.

Harry turned the puppy innocent eyes towards his sensei, "is something wrong Sensei?"

Kakashi stiffened. "No..." Harry was abused. Kakashi had to remind himself, he couldn't mess with Harry the same way he could with the rest of Team Seven just yet.

Sakura spoke up. "Sensei, Hermione here wants to be a Healer, may I teach her a little bit?"

Kakashi looked at her suspiciously, "it depends did you hide any of my books?"

"Who me...? Never!" She gave him an innocent look.

His one eye narrowed, "you would almost be convincing if I didn't know that look so well, but yes you may teach Miss Hermione."

"Yay! Thank you Sensei!" Sakura said as she hugged him. He had always been like this. She had learned patience when he had become her teacher. The whole team had only grown closer, except for when Sasuke had to take that mission with the cover of running to Orochimaru when they were thirteen.

He hugged her back and snatched the book that she had been hiding behind her back, than poofed away. The pinkette began teaching Hermione about Chakra for the remainder of the trip.

FP/HT

"Firs' years, this way, firs' years!" They group ran to Hagrid that evening, knowing they would get lost if the crowd thickened any more. "No more than four to a boat," he called as they got into the small boats

Hermione climbed in with Sakura and another two girls while the three boys sat with Neville in a different boat.

"Oh!" She said when she trailed fingers in the water, using the 'Chakra sensing' Sakura had taught her earlier to figure out what was in the lake. "There are all kinds of creatures in the lake."

"That's cool!" Sakura beamed before leaning in and whispering conspiringly; "Want to know a secret?"

"Hmm?" Hermione said as she concentrated on expanding her Chakra. It didn't look like she was paying attention but she was. Sakura was awesome and was like her so she was a good person to be friends with.

"Once you're good enough at controlling your Chakra you can walk on any surface, _including_ water…"

"Wow!" Hermione breathed starry eyed than she looked up at the castle and repeated her words, "Wow!"

"The Hokage Monument and the Hokage Tower at Sunrise are better..." Naruto muttered from the boat next to them. The ninja knew he was right, but he shouldn't be so unkind.

Sasuke wacked Naruto on the head for Sakura as she hissed, "don't ruin her moment."

"Owe! Sorry..." Naruto rubbed his head, completely ignoring the fact that it had been Sasuke who had him. "Sakura-chan that hurt..." It was always Sakura that hit him after all. And though she never meant for it to hurt anymore, it still did. Plus, sometimes he needed those smacks to the back of the head.

Harry snickered as they boat came up to the dock and the students filed out. "Breathe Harry," Sasuke said as he noticed his little brother's unease. It wouldn't do for Harry to have a panic attack here, he'd be taken away from the team and they didn't want that.

Harry nodded, taking a breath. "Thanks Ani." Harry bit back a groan as the students were led to the full Great Hall and he felt as though all eyes were on him, maybe… maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…

I mean changing Ino's hair color wasn't that bad right? Right, especially since it had been blue ever since. Sasuke reached out and squeezed Harry's hand. He would be just fine; his whole family was here for him. He could and would do this.

(End Chapter Eight)

This one is really short too, sorry about that… only twelve hundred words.

[1] No this is not Jiraiya, Jiraiya is dead in this since it's post Pein Arc. It's actually Ebisu.

Note: I've changed my mind, I'm too impatient to update every other week, it will be every week from now on.

Neph


	10. The Sorting

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Nine)

(A/N: We know that JK did names alphabetically but we couldn't be bothered. If you don't like it go away or ignore it. But flames will be ignored and deleted… Or… you could always pretend that it's in alphabetical order...)

Harry took a deep breath and sighed leaning slightly back into Sasuke. He felt Sakura take his other hand and Naruto's hand on his shoulder. He didn't even jump when Potter, Harry was called and dead silence filled the room as everyone looked for the boy who no longer existed to come forward.

Naruto smirked. They were in for a big surprise. He knew what was going on, but nobody else did. They would be sadly disappointed. Harry-chan would _never_ answer to that name again!

The old woman said the name again, but still no one came forward. She pursed her lips. They couldn't wait for the missing boy to step up forever. She liked to think that he had found a new family and had gotten so attached that he changed his name, not… that he was dead. Minerva hoped that the boy was here. Even if it was under a different name.

"Uchiha Sasuke." She called after ten minutes of waiting.

Sasuke gave Harry's hand one last squeeze before going and putting the hat on. He needed the reassurance the touch would give him.

_"Hmmm..." _the hat muttered in his ear, _"you aren't what you seem."_

"Maybe not, but I am here for my brother."

_"So loyalty, bravery, a drive to get things done, and a thirst for knowledge, so where to put you?"_

"Wherever you think I'd fit best." Sasuke replied. "I don't have a preference." It was true, he didn't care where he went; he wasn't here for anyone but Harry. Learning magic was just a bonus.

"Hufflepuff!" The hat called out after a moment of deliberation. He was one of the most loyal people the hat had the pleasure of meeting. The hat would keep his secrets, it was the right thing to do, that fact that this boy was too old and yet made himself look the same age as his precious person was something else.

The yellow table exploded with yells and clapping; Sasuke smirked as he pulled the hat off, sending a reassuring look to Harry as he went to sit down. He wasn't sure he would make any friends; he wasn't really here to do that. He was here to protect his brother, but if someone approached him for friendship he wouldn't turn them away.

"Uzumaki, Naruto!" She called

The blond squeezed Harry's shoulder before leaving his side and putting the hat on.

_"Umm…are there a lot of you who are not what you seem to be?" _ The hat asked hesitantly.

"Only two more, and we are technically family." Naruto answered, not at all surprised by a talking hat that could read minds. Talking dogs, toads and other summons animals were much stranger than this talking hat. Weird was practically part of the job description.

_"So do you want me to put you all together?"_ the hat asked almost apprehensively. Would they all fit in the same house? It wasn't sure.

"You don't have too. If we don't fit in the house Sasuke is in now then..." Naruto trailed off, shrugging. Like Sasuke, he didn't care where he went. He wanted to get this stupid custom over with so they could eat. It had been a long time since lunch after all. He was hungry.

"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted after looking around in Naruto's head a bit longer. This boy was so brave, with everything he had gone through, the hat was sure that lesser men would have curled up into a ball and shook rather than face each and every challenge this boy had. And yet this boy had faced everything head on with his head held high, unafraid of anything.

Naruto stood up; he gave Sasuke a nod and then Sakura and Harry a smile as he walked to the Gryffindor table. It didn't matter, though several years ago it would have. Naruto had calmed down a lot in the last six or so years.

"Granger, Hermione!" Minerva called.

Hermione grinned at Harry as she put the hat on.

"Ravenclaw!"

She waved as she hurried to her seat. She loved to learn; hopefully Sakura would be with her in her house.

"Haruno, Sakura!"

Sakura gave Harry a quick hug. "Don't worry ok?" Then she went to put the hat on.

The hat didn't even touch her pink locks before it called out, "Ravenclaw!" Geez! All that girl had on her mind was medical books! Although some of those techniques looked rather interesting…

She giggled as she went to sit with Hermione, giving Harry a reassuring smile and wave. She hadn't cared but letting Hermione have a familiar face would be good, and it would be easier to teach her if they were in the same house.

"Uchiha, Harry!" she called, already wishing that the sorting was over. Minerva was hungry and tied. She didn't want to stand anymore.

Harry ran up and put the hat on, sitting down quickly.

The hat seemed to sigh, _"Well Harry no longer Potter, I am sure you would like to be in with your brother or one of the others, but there is someone who needs you in_… Slytherin!"

Harry nodded as he went to sit at his new table.

"Weasely, Ron" she called tiredly and watched as Ron walked up to the stool. She was surprised when she noticed that Ron was a girl, not a boy.

"Gryffindor!" the hat called out hastily. It didn't want to be on that head longer than it absolutely had to be.

Ron seemed to wilt with relief but when he, well she now, went to sit, the table became "full."

Naruto looked at his team, each sitting at a different table. "We aren't going to let anything get between us..."

The old man in the middle looked grave as he looked over trying to find the hidden Harry Potter. Harry giggled quietly. Dinner was a scrumptious affair; the best part was when Naruto actually stood up looking for Ramen. Sasuke had gotten up and had gone over to explain that there wasn't any and to suck it up. Sakura had made it a point to go over and hit them both on the head before they started to argue.

Harry just shook his head and looked up at the staff table relaxing further when he saw Itachi, Kakashi and Deidara sitting up there. They looked like they were having a lot of fun up there with the teachers.

He waved at them. Deidara was laughing at his younger cousin's plight and so didn't see him, but the other two did and gave their patented small smiles in return. Harry looked at his house mates and wondered who needed him and why.

He shrugged and listened to the conversations, listening not just with his ears, but with his heart. Theodore Nott was abused, as was Tracy Davis and Draco's bragging hid a deep fear of rejection. Pansy hated herself, Millicent was insecure and Blaise was grateful to get away from his current 'step'-father's roving hands. Maybe…they all needed him and his family...

"The third floor corridor is completely off limits," Dumbledore said before dismissing them and the ninja's felt a tug on their senses to go and visit the third floor and be a 'hero'. Dumbledore couldn't wait to see who tried to go there.

(End Chapter Nine)


	11. Strange Occurances

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Ten)

Sasuke narrowed his eyes signaling that he wanted a meeting with the others later that night. They crushed the urge easily, but had to wonder how many others wouldn't be so lucky. Sasuke had to actually tug Neville back to his seat to keep him from rushing off. Sasuke would be Neville's mentor, now Naruto just had to find someone.

Severus Snape hid a sigh as he sneered at his Snakes. "You are Slytherin," he said, "You come from a noble house and are hated by all, but you are proud!"

Harry snorted quietly. "What about family outside the house?"

Snape stared at him and after all of the others were dismissed pulled Harry aside. "You might be lucky enough, Mr. Uchiha to have a loving family outside of this house," he frowned as he looked to where a few stragglers were, "you are one of the few."

"My brothers are in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor and my sister is in Ravenclaw. And Itachi-nii, Dei-aniki and Kakashi-sensei are teachers." Harry told him. "The hat told me I was needed here." Harry watched him with big green eyes.

Snape still, his breath caught… Lily? This was the missing hero? He hoped not, if it was, his headache would be back with vengeance.

Snape sent a silent Legimens, but his probe bounced off a very powerful barrier. "That isn't very nice sir." Harry gave him a disapproving look and a frown.

"I'm sorry. But everyone has been worried." Snape told him. How were his shields so strong?

"I am not Harry Potter, sir." Harry said standing up and moving to the first year dorms, "At least not anymore. He died a long time ago" He whispered to himself.

"Then I will keep this a secret." The professor replied, watching solemnly as Harry turned and gave him a small bow before disappearing from view. Snape wondered what he was going to tell Dumbledore. Not the truth, the truth would kill this child, Lily's child. He had to think of something else, something that made just as much sense. He was sure that as long as he didn't think about how much the kid looked like James he'd be fine. Focusing on the boy's eyes and how they looked like Lily's was a good start.

The next morning Team Seven met outside the Great Hall. They needed to figure out when and how they would train; the usual schedule would never work. It would have to change to mornings and evenings.

"Ready to face the school?" Naruto asked.

"Yep," Hermione and Sakura grinned, Sakura had shown Hermione how to tame her hair that took no time at all to do. It was a very simple thing, the style.

Harry nodded. "I'm going to befriend as many of my year as I can. They are all like I used to be…" he didn't want them to suffer like he did.

Naruto took his schedule and sighed loudly. "Ugh more studying!" He had never been very good at academics, he learned better by doing.

"We'll help you study Naruto." The girls chimed together, laughing as they split up to sit at their tables.

The first class for Naruto and Harry was Potions, "I think Snape knows who I was," Harry whispered to Naruto while they waited in the corridor. He was starting to feel scared, what if they tried to take him away from his family? What if he was forced to go back to those… those people?

"It doesn't matter Little Brother, they can't get you now." Naruto replied just as quietly, pulling Harry close; reminding his little brother that there was nothing any _Outsiders_ could do to take him away.

"Naruto, why are you talking to a slimy snake?" asked a snide, female voice.

Naruto looked up to see who was talking. When he saw who it was, his grip on Harry tightened and he rolled his eyes. Would she never learn to keep her mouth shut if she had nothing good to say?

Ron was glaring at Harry, "he's going to contaminate you. Come over to the safe side," she beckoned the blond over to the Gryffindor side of the room.

"Why should I not spend time with my brother?" Naruto asked, was she really so closed-minded that she would _condemn_ a relative if he or she was placed in Slytherin like Harry had been? How stupid!

Ron huffed, than swallowed hard when she saw Snape looking at her, "house rivalry is no longer tolerated, Miss Weasely."

Harry smiled, hugging Naruto. "I can't wait to learn!"

Transfiguration was easy for both Sasuke and Sakura as they used jutsu to make the transformations. They found, for some reason they could force their chakra to mimic what magic could do. Maybe magic _was_ chakra? But right now they had no time to experiment or research anything.

They both knew how to use senbon, although Sakura was better at it.

Classes went quickly and Sasuke was glad to meet up with the others in the forest to train. He didn't mind looking like an 11 year old for most of the day, but he was glad to look like his 19 year old self while he trained. He and the other nineteen year olds stretched. Sakura got Hermione started on the first chakra exercise.

"Wait," she looked at her friend in confusion, "you're not eleven?"

"No, but we wanted to learn." Sakura answered simply.

"Oh… are you nineteen too Harry?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No, I'm really eleven." Harry replied, would she hate them for this?

"Oh!" She looked up before shrugging went back to what Sakura had taught her.

"Yo!" They all jumped when Kakashi, Itachi and Deidara appeared.

"You're..." Naruto began to yell than paused and scratched his head, "not late."

"WHAT THE HELL? Since when are you not late?" Sakura asked in a panic. She eyed the sky warily, looking for signs of the apacolips.

"Since I've become a responsible adult," Kakashi sniffed and Deidara held up the book he was holding hostage, "and since Deidara has my book."

"You? Responsible?" Sasuke smirked, snickering.

Kakashi pretended to look offended, "just for that brat, you will train with… Itachi today."

"What? No fair! That means that I can't use Chidori!" Sasuke pouted.

"And that is why you need to train little brother," Itachi came over to him, "you rely on that too much; especially during the last mission and almost depleted your chakra."

Sasuke gave him a playful glare. "Fine, you're on."

The two backed away to a clearing and easily began to spar. Sasuke loved sparing with his older brother.

Naruto looked around. "Does anyone else have that… strange feeling…? Like there's something here that…?" Naruto nudged Kakashi and Deidara. "You feel it too, right?" Naruto had trouble putting this feeling into words. He'd felt this only once before.

"I do..." Deidara said, "I've been investigating, but the headmaster has more spies in the castle than we have ninja in Konoha, so it's hard to do so unnoticed." It was a constant test of his skills. It was times like these that he thanks Kami for his clay. Each creation was a wonderful spy in and of itself. The war with Iwa had happened because his mother, Namikaze Minato's older sister, had been killed on accident by a Konoha nin when he was younger. He was glad that his grandfather, the Sandaime Tsuchikage had sent him away to his Uncle Minato before the fighting had really started. They wouldn't have these wonderful spies if he hadn't inherited his grandfather's bloodline. [1]

Kakashi nodded. "There's this very faint chakra too, it's very familiar, but I can't pinpoint its location." And it had been so long since he had felt it that he wasn't sure if his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.

"I started sending out clay spiders but they have to move slow and hide a lot," Deidara said tugging Naruto closer so they could spar. He loved sparing with his younger cousin, since the boy's father wasn't around it fell to him to teach the boy the family Taijutsu. Naruto was very good at it.

Naruto nodded. "I see."

That left Kakashi to train with Harry. Which usually happened, when his elder students were busy with their own training.

(End Chapter Ten)

I hate Flames… stupid person…

[1] This is a bit of Deidara's past. We don't know if Minato was an only child or not, though many people make him one. This is not the only fic I'm going to give him a sister in, look for it in my other fics too! Not telling you which though, that would be telling…

Neph


	12. Finding Him

Hidden Tears/Family Pain.

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Eleven)

When Christmas break came, Team Seven decided to stay. Ronnie left, much to the relief of the Gryffindors as his mother was taking him to St. Mungo's to try and reverse the 'curse' that changed him from Ron to Ronnie. Team Seven convened in Kakashi's rooms, in hopes of some privacy. "Now what are we going to do?" Naruto asked. "We have two weeks of 'free' time..." Two weeks of doing nothing would be boring, Ninja like them were used to being active; classes had taken up their time so far but now…

"You kids do what you would do naturally... wander, explore," Kakashi suggested, "When you come across a barrier, we can mark it and come back when we figure out how to disable the security." Team Seven nodded.

"I wonder what we'll find here..." Sasuke mused; he'd been itching to explore the castle since they'd seen it on the lake.

"Who knows?" Sakura answered. "But I hope we find it before the holiday is over." If they didn't, then they would have no time to look once the other students returned.

"Let's start looking now." Naruto told them. No time like the present right?

They spent the next few minutes playing Rock Scissor Paper to see who would go with whom. Naruto and Sakura started at top North Tower, Sasuke and Harry at the South Tower and would meet in the middle of Corridor 10 by the painting with the Dancing (maiming) Trolls before they went down to the next level.

They knew the 'power' was coming from the dungeon, but they didn't want someone to become suspicious if they quickly narrowed in on the source and it is always good practice to know your surroundings.

This would be enjoyable. The team thought sarcastically. But it was necessary to appear harmless.

* * *

><p>Naruto growled to Sakura, "If that old bat tells me one more time that I am going to meet my father in a dark place filled with danger..." when he stormed out of Trelawney's classroom an hour later stomping down the latter, making it shake.<p>

Sakura giggled. "You already have!" She was referring to his battle with Pein, where almost everyone died in the village, it was painful but true. Though, how she was able to laugh about the topic even now, much less giggle Naruto didn't know. Naruto wasn't able to laugh about it at all even now, three years later.

"Sakura!" Naruto whined, "That's not the point... she keeps going on about seeing him before the end of the year!" He kicked at the stairs, "If only..." he sighed dejectedly, trailing off, listening to that Professor insisting that he would meet his father sometime really soon was painful. The man was already dead! Why couldn't she figure that out? Why was she picking at the barely healed hole in her heart? How did she find it even?

Sakura blinked. "If only what?" Her teammate was acting so strange… he wasn't usually depressed like this.

He shrugged, trying valiantly to hold back and hide the tears of pain that so wanted to fall. She had to be lying. That woman, there was no way that Yondaime-sama, his Otou-sama could be alive, the text books at home may be wrong about the Kyuubi being dead, but there was no way that his father could have survived that battle. It was just plain cruel to give an orphan like Naruto that kind of hope when there was no way that the parent could be alive. He knew how that seal worked! "If only it were true!" He flushed and turned away, "Forget it, and let's go to the West Tower."

Sakura nodded. She knew that Naruto missed his family, even if Naruto had never known his parents, that brief glimpse of his father only fueled his hunger for the man. It was too bad the man was dead. She'd heard all kinds of stories about the Yondaime from Kakashi-sensei. He sounded like a wonderful person and would no doubt have been a doting father to Naruto. She ached, felt the same pain Naruto did, she often wondered why Naruto wasn't jealous of her and Sasuke for having families when he never did so they did their very best to become the family that he had never had the chance to have. Itachi and Deidara (once they'd gotten back from that deep cover mission) had become the fun older brother/protective cousin to her and Naruto, Deidara becoming a second brother figure to Sasuke. Kakashi (who would have been Naruto's older brother figure anyway) slipped into place as a fun loving; lazy, older brother who had a side of if-you-hurt-my-kids-in-any-way-at-all-I'll-kill-you… adding Naruto's father to the mix would be way too good to be true. In fact, in a sense, she was the odd one out as she still had both of her parents (even if they were civilians) and they were rather old.

She followed him, letting him in to Ravenclaw's common room, ignoring the sniffing of the two Ravenclaw 7th years that remained behind. She glared at them. "Leave my brother alone!" She hissed, could they not see that her brother was hurting? They flinched back and looking at each other decided the library might be a better place to study. She grinned, going to help Naruto search.

She debated, wondering if Gryffindor tower had the same security precautions on the girl's side as Ravenclaw did. She grinned, it would be fun to prank Naruto when he tried… she didn't get to prank him often, usually she was on the receiving end. Her or Sasuke… he couldn't prank Harry yet. It was always frustrating that they couldn't just play with their littlest brother just yet; it had been several years already after all. But his healing was an ongoing process.

Naruto and Sakura poked around the boy's side. Naruto explored everything, except the few trunks that had been left behind. Even he knew he couldn't get away with an invasion of privacy without a good reason. And there wasn't one.

Her prank worked… until he used the clothed version of his Oiroke no jutsu. Sakura had nearly laughed herself sick when Naruto had tried to keep climbing up the stairs and kept slipping back, she couldn't wait to tell Sasuke! Naruto had glared playfully as they left. Whatever he had planned in retaliation was worth it to get him out of that mood! Several hours later they reached the first level of the dungeons.

"Ah…children," Dumbledore beamed at them, "Having fun exploring?" Being trained ninja, they didn't jump; but all the same… what the hell? How had he managed to sneak up on trained ninja that were at Jounin level?

"I remember exploring when I was a young student," he continued, smiling at them his eyes twinkling, "but do remember not all parts of the castle are safe for young explorers, so..." he clapped his hands, and made shooing motions at them, "run along and play outside."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, but he followed Sakura who grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Harry looked back just as they were about to turn the corner and waved. He placed a subtle Chakra marker on the wall and went to meet with Harry and Sasuke. Time to go see Kakashi-sensei... They hadn't found a barrier, but this was just as good.

Itachi and Kakashi listened as the 'students' gave their report, "I don't like the way he was looking at Sasuke; it's almost as if… he's planning something." Harry said nervously. He really didn't want anything to happen to his family, never mind that he had only been with him for almost four years now. There were tons better than the stupid blood family that didn't love him no matter what he did. If any of his brothers or sister got hurt, he didn't know what he'd do.

"Not only that, but we know that at least the first level of dungeons is safe because that's where we have our Potions class." Naruto added. Why were they forbidden from going down there? Naruto knew that someone of great importance to their family was down there! It really worried him. "What could he be hiding? I left a marker on the wall where he stopped us so that you can pick up the search from there sensei." The implications were rather dark and they needed to get this person to safety as soon as they possibly could.

Kakashi nodded, "I think we have a strong ally in Snape. Not sure if we can trust him with knowing about who you were Harry, but we have someone who will stand up for us if need be." He knew that chakra! Why couldn't he remember, it was so tantalizingly familiar, like… coming home after a long mission on that battle front to Ku… shi… na-san, a hot bath and meal waiting and… Someone to… Why was he having so much trouble remembering?

Harry nodded. He understood perfectly. Kaka-sensei, his Nii-san was just concerned for his safety. It did not mean that Kaka-nii thought he was weak at all.

"Sensei, how do we get past this point?" Naruto asked, making a map. Deidara was the map master, thanks to his clay creations, but Naruto wasn't too bad at it, Dei-itoko was teaching him.

Harry looked at the map, "Slytherin common room has a second exit on a level two down from where we were," he pointed to about where the exits were. "The few times I've felt the tug, it felt… lower almost." He dragged his finger below their map to where maybe a fifth or sixth level would be.

Naruto nodded, grinning. "Then, it looks like we are spending the night with you. Can you show us Harry?" It was nice to know that he and the older ninja was not the only ones that felt it.

"It might be best to go around at night..." Sakura told them. They had been rebuffed during the day, so maybe they'd have more luck? It seemed logical enough…

Several hours later they made their way down to dinner, not expecting the opportunity that would befall them. Soon they would have a way to get down to that unknown level where the chakra signature was.

"Mr. Uchiha!" Sasuke looked up that night after dinner, hiding a frown when Dumbledore beckoned him closer, "I have a proposition for you, how would you like to be Harry Potter?"

Sasuke blinked. "...What would I want to be this Harry Potter kid for...?" This would be interesting…

"Fame, fortune," Dumbledore smiled at him, his eyes twinkling full force, "everyone will love you!"

Sasuke gave him a deadpan look. As if he didn't get enough of that at home in Konoha for being one of the last Uchiha... "...No thank you. I'm already the heir to a fortune and I have enough fame for being one of the last of my family." Sasuke sneered. "I would rather not have more Fan girls." Those… _things_ were scary as hell! No thank you!

Dumbledore frowned; his tone turning icy, "If you are sure Mr. Uchiha." This kid looked so much like Harry would have looked now, he was sure. He needed this kid to play the part, not only to get a greater hold on the Potter boy's accounts, but to have an ear in on the strange teachers and students that had arrived from Konoha. …Where ever that was.

"More than." Sasuke turned away, keeping his senses alert. He would not trust this man with a _paper_ kunai.

Dumbledore pulled his hand away from his wand, what is it with those people from Konoha? They were able to fight his 'suggestions', even when powered by his wand. Over 3/4 of the students had gotten on to the third floor corridor, all but the four from Konoha had at least tried to open the door. What were they? Did they have natural oclumancy?

Sasuke went right to his older brother. "Aniki, a stupid old man has asked me to be a rich famous kid." Better to tell the team and come up with a plan.

Itachi blinked, "I'm sorry... what?" What had his baby brother just said? Was he hearing things? He was already a famous rich kid. "You're already a famous rich kid."

Sasuke sighed. "He asked me to be Harry Potter." Was his ANBU-Captain-at-thirteen older brother purposely being dense? "That's Harry's money."

Itachi blinked again and switched languages to ANBU code, "you don't even look like Harry did when he first came to Konoha! And he wants to steal from Harry?" He needed to make sure, if Harry had finances out here and someone was trying to steal from him then…

Sasuke nodded, carefully answering in the same code. "Should I accept, if only to get Harry's money away from that man?" this was maddening!

"When we go spar tonight; let's ask Harry what he thinks," Itachi said, turning away with a slightly perturbed look on this face. This new information was disturbing.

"Yes Aniki." Sasuke bowed slightly and left the room at the dismissal.

Later that day before the sparing began, Sasuke recounted his conversation (if it could be called that…) and Naruto fell to the ground laughing when he heard about Dumbledore's 'suggestion,' Harry blinked rapidly, "he wants you to pretend to be me?" Had the old man really asked that of his older brother?

Sasuke nodded. "Apparently you are the heir to a rich family. I could go along with it if you want; to get your money out of his hands..." They could get the money back and tie it to the Uchiha assets, add to it as well…

Harry paled a bit, "what if he tries to make you go back with Uncle Ver... Vernon?" He had been forced to live there for years before he had escaped and found his real family. He did not want Sasuke going there, _ever_. Harry was still terrified of Vernon.

"Then I will kill him because I don't take crap from anyone." And that included fat, snobby businessmen, he might put up with them when they were clients, but if they weren't then he avoided them like he did fan girls.

Harry looked up at Itachi, "Aniki, do you think he should?" he needed another opinion.

"Hm... Should he? That's up to you. It is your money and fame after all." Itachi answered. He didn't need to explain further.

Sakura piped in, "a big Pro is that we will have someone on the 'inside'," she pointed out, "maybe find out all about Dumbledore's plans." She had a good point, or so she thought.

Kakashi nodded. "That's true. Maybe we will even find out who is down there." It was painful not knowing, it was so familiar to him; and Deidara…

"Kakashi-sensei, you haven't tried to go down there yet have you?" Naruto asked from the ground finally having calmed down enough to contribute to the conversation.

"And got turned away by a house elf," Kakashi said with a shrug, "persistent little thing too." The damn thing had known he was there! It hadn't mattered that he had suppressed his chakra as much as he could, was pulling out all his stealth skills and on top of all that had walked on the damn ceiling!

"What the hell?" Deidara asked, remembering Kakashi's account of the experience. The inhuman things were annoying…

Naruto turned to Deidara. "Dei-itoko, looks like it's up to you and your clay… any luck?" He really hoped so! Otherwise they were up the creek without a paddle!

"My spiders have searched down to the sixth level and found a sealed area that they can't get through," Deidara said looking thoughtful. What was in that area, he didn't know; but they needed to find out.

"Then how do we get down there?" Naruto asked.

Sakura grinned, causing Naruto to groan, "Research on how to become invisible and how to open a sealed room."

The next morning, Sasuke approached Dumbledore and told the man that he had changed his mind, thus, obtaining what they hadn't even known that they needed: Harry's father's Invisibility Cloak!

Sasuke held the cloak up with undisguised glee, when he met with the team after the meeting. "Now we can finish our explorations!" He had already tested the thing and it worked like a charm! He'd also managed to get rid of all the trackers on it too. All he'd had to de was overload it with chakra.

That night the four students crept past the snoring portraits and followed the clay spiders until they stopped by a plaque, "only one of the blood may open the door?" Sakura read in a whisper. What could be in there? Whose blood did… wait… didn't Naruto say something about a… _familiar_ feeling?

"Then let me try." Naruto whispered, putting his hand on the door. He didn't know why, but he felt like he could, had to, open that door. He bit his thumb and let a drop of blood touch the plaque, all of them bit back cries of pain as a bright light flared from the wall. The bright flash of light hid the dissolving door, opening the room for the first time in years. When they opened their eyes, the door was gone.

The room was empty but for a raised dais on which a person lay as if in a state of sleep. A light shown down on the man, from above, his hauntingly familiar blonde hair gleamed in the light. Naruto made a sound in the back of his throat; it sounded like a whimpering kit. His teammates stared in stunned silence for a second as Naruto dashed to the dais. This was… there was no way. Naruto could not, would not believe his eyes. There, lying on that raised Dais, looking as if he was only deeply sleeping… the man that he had longed for so badly… was his father.

"Minerva!" They heard a frantic call from outside the corridor, "the alarm went off!" Sasuke pushed Naruto aside and quickly scooped up the body as Sakura grabbed Naruto's collar and dragged them to a corner of the room, Harry threw the cloak over the now huddled and squashed group.

Naruto knew that he had to be quiet. Opening the room must have set off some kind of alarm! "Otou-sama..." He breathed. Naruto could feel the familiar warmth of his father's chakra. He knew this wasn't a dream but it felt like it was. This had to be a dream! Everyone knew that his father was dead!

Dumbledore and McGonagall ran into the room, their wands drawn. Looking for the intruders that were surely still in the room.

Naruto, who had been carrying one of Deidara's clay creations for just this kind of situation, let it go on the wall. He watched as the large off-white grey spider quickly crawled up, the grey of the clay blending in with the grey of the walls.

"How did the door open? He has no blood family that we could find!" Minerva asked loudly. Speaking as if Namikaze Minato, Konoha's beloved Yondaime and Naruto's father, was a monster, just like the shinobi from Iwa.

The spider slipped out the open corridor and when it was far enough away from the door made a noise drawing the two older, ignorant wizard and witch out of the room.

Team Seven grinned at each other as they made their way back to the dais when they were sure that the older witch and wizard were far enough away, breathing hard. That had been so close… _way_ too close.

Naruto pulled the cloak off as soon as it was clear that the Wizard and Witch weren't coming back. The five ninja made their way back to the Dais, Naruto keeping his eyes on the limp body of his father as Sasuke carried him. Sasuke carefully set the Yondaime down next to the dais when he felt Naruto's eyes.

Naruto carefully reached out and ran the backs of his fingers down one of Namikaze Minato's cheeks, gasping slightly at the warmth his father gave off.

"Sakura," Sasuke ordered as he shifted the larger blonde man's body in his arms as he got back up with Naruto's help once the younger blond's inspection was complete, "you and Harry read and memorize anything on the dais, meet us in Kakashi's room in one hour, don't get caught!" Naruto poked his head out smirking as he noticed the spider leading the elder wizard and witch further away and motioned for Sasuke to go ahead. The two of them could run quickly, Sakura and Harry kept the cloak. They wouldn't get caught, even with the added dead weight of the Yondaime slowing Sasuke down a bit.

They needed to see Kakashi-sensei and Snape. …Well, maybe not Snape but Minato-sama might only wake if given a potion and those were Snape's specialty.

Naruto knocked frantically on Kakashi's door ten minutes later and it was quickly opened and they were ushered in. Sasuke was careful to gently let the body fall on the bed as he and Naruto began to make the older blonde comfortable. Just because the most powerful and revered man in the Elemental Nations was unconscious didn't mean that he had to be uncomfortable.

"Kakashi-sensei, Snape-san, please come with us and hurry!" Naruto said quickly, a quiet tone of awe mixed with delight could be heard in his voice. "We found him!"

"Found who?" Snape asked than drew his wand when he saw the body on the bed, "that man is dangerous!"

"That man is my _father_!" Naruto snarled. He wouldn't let anyone say anything bad about his father; his father was the best dad in the world!

Kakashi hurried to Minato's side. "Minato-sensei...?" he asked hopefully. It was Minato, the Chakra was the same. A sense of awe filled Kakashi, as did a feeling of utter delight. His second father was back!

Sakura and Harry came running in, skidding to a stop next to Naruto and Sasuke as Kakashi hurried to closed the door behind them "He needs the reversal to the draught of living death with the key ingredient being six drops of his reluctant student's blood," Sakura panted, reciting what the most powerful ninja _ever_ in the history of the profession needed to be woken up from memory. "Dumbledore is searching all the rooms on the level below us."

"Reluctant student...?" They all turned to Kakashi, who began to sweat. Yes he was the Yondaime's student, but how was he supposed to be reluctant? He wanted Minato-sensei to wake up as much as Naruto did. He smiled at them and rubbed the back of his head, "I wasn't that bad." He was actually kind of worried that his blood might not work.

"We still need your blood to wake him up." Naruto reminded him, smiling brightly. As if he needed reminding…

"You want to wake him?" Snape asked confused as he lowered his wand, why would anyone want to wake a monster? "I don't understand."

"He's my Father!" Naruto told him. "That should explain _everything_!"

"Dumbledore," Sakura hissed looking back at Kakashi and smirked, "Sensei take off your shirt and half unbutton your pants," she looked over at Snape and quickly rumbled the bed, hiding Minato sufficiently, at least, she hoped, it wouldn't do to have him be discovered now so soon after they got him out of that room, Dumbledore might kill him before asking any questions, "you too, Professor, Dumbledore will think he… interrupted something." She grabbed Harry and slipped into the closet knowing that Sasuke and Naruto could hide themselves.

A frantic knocking came from the door a second later. They blinked. "Kakashi, are you awake?" They heard Dumbledore call through the door. He needed to find that man! That man and his lost son were the keys to the light's victory over Tom.

Snape and Kakashi gave each other defeated looks but quickly stripped stoically ignoring Naruto's snickers from the corner above the closet. Kakashi then went to get the door.

Dumbledore blinked at the rumbled half dressed man in front of him, "is something wrong Albus?" Snape asked coming up behind Kakashi.

Dumbledore blushed. "N-no…"

"There must be if you…" Kakashi cleared his throat, trying to make it sound like he and… Snape had been in the middle of something. Oh how he wished that Iruka were here… his sweet, sweet Dolphin… "'woke' us up at… two in the morning."

Dumbledore had forgotten that Kakashi didn't know about the man in the dungeons. The key to winning.

"We thought we had an intruder," Dumbledore stammered and blinked when Severus actually nuzzled Kakashi's neck with his nose. He didn't notice that the action caused Kakashi to flinch and tense up. Kakashi reminded himself that this was for the mission and nothing else. There was no way he would _ever_ cheat on Iruka.

"I see… Now if you don't mind… We are going back to bed." In and near the closet, Team Seven was having trouble not laughing.

"Oh… well… ah… good night!" Dumbledore called through the rapidly closing door wondering what they would think if he asked to watch… better not chance it, his hold over his potion master didn't extend quite that far. Once Dumbledore was far enough away, Team Seven spilled out from around and of the closet laughing; Snape and Kakashi found themselves joining in.

Snape put his shirt back on, ignoring the whistle from the 'students', "if Miss Haruno will help me, it will take me three days to brew the reversal," Snape said, "your father, Mr. Uzumaki will be awake the day before New Years."

"Thank you!" Naruto really wanted to hug the man. But he knew better.

"Of course I'll help." Sakura told him. It was her duty, but also a pleasure.

"You do realize you owe Professor Trelawney an apology, don't you," Sakura said smirking at Naruto.

Naruto groaned. "Don't remind me!" He hated that woman… even if what she had said _was_ true…

Sakura explained the Seers words to the rest of the room but Naruto couldn't stop grinning. He moved closer to the man on the bed, his eyes drinking the form in, "father," he whispered. Soon, the man would wake up; there were so many questions Naruto had for him. And there was so much he wanted Minato to teach him. There were things that only Minato would be able to teach his son anyway…

(End Chapter Eleven)

Hope you liked it. Raise your hands if you saw this coming! You'll also like what I have planned for Snape too, his part is coming~!

Remember to review!

Neph


	13. Best Christmas Ever

Hidden Tears/Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Twelve)

Kakashi turned to Snape three days later. "How long 'til Minato-sensei wakes up once he's been fed the antidote?"

"It should wake him up right away, but he will remain unable to move for about an hour, long enough for you to explain what is happening." Severus answered, feeling more than slightly nervous. Albus had told them all that this man was a monster. But, could a monster have friends, or family?

Kakashi cautioned Naruto to stand back as Sakura (their medic) fed Minato the antidote. Naruto shook his head, sitting firmly next to his father.

"Mm…" Minato's eyebrows twitched, his nose scrunching up slightly as soon as he swallowed the foul fluid. It showed his subconscious disgust. But, as Snape said, Minato was on the verge of waking, nothing but a sleeping potion would have the normally super-light sleeper so deeply asleep.

Naruto pulled back. "He's coming to…" He quickly got off the bed and backed away, not wanting to confuse his father, not wanting to get attacked. _Nobody_ wanted to get attacked by _this_ man.

Minato started to open his eyes. "…" His vision swam for a few minutes before coming into abrupt, sharp focus. This room wasn't in his home. This room was foreign and though there were a few familiar Chakras he couldn't let them see his weakness. He wasn't at home; he wasn't even in Konoha's general hospital where Kushina was supposed to be giving birth to Naruto. Where was he? More importantly, where were Kushina and Naruto? Where were his wife and son?

Naruto moved farther away now nervous… what if he was disappointed in his son? "It'll be fine, Naru," Deidara said quietly, touching his cousin's trembling shoulders. Deidara felt the same way. This was the Uncle that would never let anything happen to him, he had a Hiraishin Kunai in his pouch to prove it, and he knew for a fact that Kakashi still carried his.

Naruto turned to him. "Dei-itoko…" Naruto knew that he was shaking, weather or not it was from fear or excitement however, he wasn't sure.

Minato frowned slightly when he realized he couldn't move his body so he had to move his eyes instead feeling slightly panicked, if he couldn't move, he couldn't defend himself from any attacks. He was open to attack, best not antagonize his captors. His eyes found Kakashi first. "...Kakashi... Where is Naruto…?" He was so confused, where was he? But Naruto and Kushina were more important. Their safety came before his own, _always_.

Naruto seemed to wilt with relief as his eyes filled with tears, "I'm right here Otou-sama." He said quietly, stepping into his father's line of sight, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake.

Minato's eyes moved to look at Naruto. His whole frame seemed to relax at the sight of his son. "…Naruto… My Naruto…" Minato wished that he could move. A weight seemed to lift from his shoulders as he gazed at his son, but something was wrong… "You aren't really eleven are you, my Naruto...?"

His diamond blue eyes were soft as he took in his only son's face, a small smile lit Minato's face. Then they widened, his smile becoming a frown. "Kami, how much time has passed since that bastard caught me?" Minato frowned, how was his son so old? He should be at the hospital with his mother! That couldn't be Naruto! Naruto was in Konoha, he had to be! Naruto had been born just yesterday!

"Who Sensei?" asked Kakashi.

Minato growled; if the blonde wasn't Naruto then chances were that this couldn't be Kakashi either. "You can't fool me old man," he sneered, "my son is still a baby..." his voice broke, "with my wife! I will not give him to you."

Naruto backed away, suddenly scared, he quickly hid behind his older cousin, trembling in fear. He had heard stories about his father's abilities. He certainly didn't want his father's anger focused on him. _Especially_ not after hearing stories of how effective his father was with the Hiraishin on the battlefield against Iwa.

"Remember the bell test?" Kakashi cut in across Minato's white hot anger, Minato-sensei needed to calm down! "I was willing to let Obito go without until Rin thwacked me up the back of the head and reminded me of your lecture before the test… team work."

"Uncle! Remember the argument we had about me going to spy on Iwa just before Naruto was born?" Deidara quickly added turning to hug Naruto, rubbing the younger boy's back soothingly. His uncle's anger was something he never wanted to see aimed at their own family, with good reason. "You didn't want me to leave because of how risky it was and if I was found out I'd die before ever meeting Naruto. Remember?" This was not good...

"Remember that bright orange toothbrush I bought you for your birthday?" Itachi interjected with a smirk. Maybe a bit of humor would distract Minato-sama long enough for them to explain the situation…

Minato started breathing slower and more calmly. He knew these people, Kakashi: his student, Itachi: Family friend and infant Sasuke's older brother, and Deidara: his only nephew... But, where was this? Was his wife safe? Where was his son? "Naruto?" He said again a bit more uncertainly looking for the blue eyes that were his, and face that reminded him of Kushina, "Naruto; my son?"

"Hai," Naruto nodded, getting an idea. "Otou-sama." He carefully made his way back to his father's side, glad that his anger had cooled.

Minato's eyes softened again, "I… so much time…" What… had happened?

"And that…" Severus said in an aside to Sakura, "Is why I decided that he should be immobile until everything could be explained. I heard when Dumbledore brought him here… well it was bad. I was training with my potions master but I heard that he destroyed part of the castle trying to get away."

"Why do you think I was trying to get away?" Minato snarled. Was this man with the one that had kidnapped him and tried to blackmail him into giving up his precious, only child? "My son was _alone_! And even though I asked he be seen as a hero I knew they wouldn't treat him so! _I needed to get back to him_!"

"Yes," Severus said, snarking back, "But if I hadn't made it so you would listen," he glared at the man who was glaring back, damn that glare was _scary_; "you would have killed everyone in the room before you heard the explanation."

"Why did you keep me here?" Minato's anger was heating up again; he had been kept here while who knows what had happened to his son. He knew that his son wasn't eleven, even if he looked it. He wasn't sure how much older – or younger Naruto might be, but it didn't matter.

"Only I could get you out, Otou-sama!" Naruto explained quickly, "Only someone of your blood could release you!"

Minato forced himself to calm down. "Why did you take me away from my home? Why?"

All of Team Seven turned to look at Severus. "That is a good question. Why was Minato-sensei taken from Konoha?" Kakashi asked.

Severus shrugged, "Hell if I know Dumbledore certainly didn't tell _me_ anything…" That man was too secretive for his own good.

"We will find the answers, but for right now, you need to regain your strength," Kakashi said softly to his much missed Sensei, "you have been dormant for over nineteen years."

Minato stared at Kakashi in absolute shock. "Nineteen years...?" Minato paled, _nineteen years_ had been taken form him? He had completely missed the opportunity to raise his only child? "Has… Has it really… been that long?"

"Yes, Sensei, it has." Kakashi confirmed his fears sadly.

Minato glared at Snape. Because of these… these people, he'd missed getting to see his son grow up! His name was no doubt on the Memorial Stone, where it didn't belong, thought of as dead and Naruto… He had left Naruto on his own, with no one but a grieving student to look after him, in a village that hated him! He was a _horrible_ father…

"_I hate you_." Minato said with such conviction that Snape was sure that if Minato could move, all the people in the castle other than the ninja in this room, would be dead.

Snape sighed, "And typical I get blamed for it even though I wasn't there." He nodded to the room, ignoring Minato and muttered to Harry, "Don't forget our potions lesson tonight, Mr. …Uchiha." He walked out of the room.

Minato shook his head. "So, who all is here?" He asked; looking around at his guests as the door closed behind the Professor.

He only recognized Naruto, Kakashi, Itachi and Deidara. "You're an Uchiha," he nodded to Sasuke, "so you must be Sasuke."

"Hai, Yondaime-sama, I am Sasuke, I'm also the next ANBU Captain, if the rumors at home are to be believed…" Sasuke grinned sheepishly.

"I'm Sakura!" The girl with pink hair stoke up. "I am on Team Seven with Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun under Kakashi-sensei."

He smiled his amusement thinking of Kakashi as a team leader and hoped Kakashi was better than he had been. "And you my unknown Uchiha?"

"I'm Harry..."

"Harry..." he looked at Kakashi, "but that's an English name."

Kakashi nodded, but it was Naruto that told the story.

Harry smiled shyly at the man, he could understand the man's anger, but he didn't treat Severus very well.

"Understand Harry, it is not your teacher that I hate. It is the man who brought me here that emotion is directed at." Minato grinned, turning to the youngest in their group.

"He is your brother Naruto?" Minato asked quietly.

"Well," Naruto said sheepishly, "more like all our brothers."

Minato chuckled. "Then he is also my son." Harry flushed pink.

Naruto froze, sensing the old man coming.

"Scramble," he hissed pulling Sasuke to the bed, "we need to hide him." He and Sasuke got Minato up and Sakura opened the window, and both males pulled him out of it as the others hid the vials of potions and got out books to 'study.'

"What is going on?" Minato asked quietly. He forced Chakra into his hands so that he would not fall, but why had he been pushed out the window?

"The old man is coming," Sasuke explained quickly and quietly, "Probably wants me to pose with him as Potter."

"You look nothing like Harry..." Minato said quietly, watching as the door opened to admit Dumbledore.

Sasuke sighed and went to meet Dumbledore.

"Ah Harry my boy!" Dumbledore beamed at him.

Sasuke hid his flinch. "Yes Headmaster?"

"The minister of magic is here to see you!"

"I… see…" Sasuke turned to Sakura, his eyes screaming 'save me'. He wasn't the only one that thought that the Minister was a kiss up fool.

"I'm sorry headmaster," Itachi said smoothly stepping between Dumbledore and Sasuke, "but Mr. Uchiha has family plans today, it is Christmas after all."

Sasuke hugged Itachi. "Thank you Aniki..." He didn't want to deal with Fudge, not today, not when they had just gotten the _best_ Christmas present _ever_...

"Surely a quick photo..." Dumbledore tried to turn puppy eyes but was too old to pull it off, much too old.

Sasuke shuddered shaking his head. "No." Hell no!

Dumbledore sent him a very disappointed look that would have brought lesser men to their knees.

Sasuke glared back. "I would rather spend the day with my brother." Naruto and Sakura looked up from their 'studying'.

Dumbledore let out a big sigh... "I see." He left. Dumbledore knew that he had to get the boy to take a picture with Fudge sometime today or... Maybe he needed to offer him something else. Hm... Maybe… the map of the school?

The others began quietly giggling, "Did you see his eyes? Bad puppy-dog eyes!"

Sasuke nodded as he helped Minato back onto the bed, sitting him up so that he could see the rest of them better.

"That was the worst try I had ever seen!" Deidara chuckled.

"He's the one..." Minato said his eyes filling with concern, "I know why I am here, but why are you?"

Naruto smiled sadly. "Ry-chan here was invited and we weren't going to let him come here alone… so we are on a long term recon mission for Tsunade-baa-chan." He clapped Harry on the shoulder as gently as possible

"Tsunade? Is she Hokage now?" Minato couldn't picture the disillusioned medic as accepting of that title…

Naruto nodded. "Yep; Baa-chan is cool! But I doubt that she is as good as you were…" He blushed slightly as he met his father's amused eyes.

"So Harry," he turned back to the shy boy, "do you have a favorite jutsu yet?"

Harry nodded. "I haven't learned it though; it's Naruto-nii-chan's Fuuton: Rasenshrunken! It's so cool, but I don't think he'll ever teach it to me..."

"You need to grow in skill first," Minato said. Just the name made that Jutsu sound awesome.

Harry nodded. "Wait till you see it though!" He was sure that Minato-otou-san would agree that it was the coolest jutsu ever. Minato smiled as the boy relaxed, he hated to see children who were abused.

"Maa, I'm bored… let's go train!" Naruto burst out. The tension in the room was broken as everyone laughed. Minato spent the afternoon in the forest getting used to being awake, upright, and moving.

He watched them all train; hoping to see the jutsu that Harry had said was his favorite as he slowly went through the katas of his family style of Taijutsu.

He felt off balance and he felt _old_ as he looked at his 19 year old son and so filled with sorrow and rage that that man had stolen that time from him, from them both.

Naruto jumped back as he created two clones, both of whom knelt in front of him and began manipulating the chakra in his hand, Kakashi, Naruto's sparing partner at the moment, quickly dove out of the way. "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto shouted, throwing the huge chakra-shrunken at the place that his sensei had just been standing. The only reason he had been able to throw it was because he was training with Sage Mode.

Minato watched as the attack made the clearing they were using a lot bigger. He was impressed and proud of his son. Harry watched Naruto awe in his eyes. "Naruto," he called to his son, "how did you create that attack?" He was really curious; it looked like his son had gotten his mind…

Naruto put his hand behind his head and flushed, "well... I created it from your Rasengan Otou-sama." He explained, "I did what you never succeeded in doing. I was able to add my wind-natured chakra to it."

Minato blinked. "You created… _that_… from the Rasengan? I am so proud of you!" His son was just perfect! The perfect combination of himself and Ku-chan… he couldn't be more proud if he tried. To be able to complete the Rasengan proved that his control was almost perfect, even if he needed a few clones to help him do so.

Naruto grinned and flushed brighter; to hear those words come from his father was something he had always craved. 'Your father would have been proud,' just didn't cut it…

Minato walked over and ruffled Naruto's hair fondly.

"Ready to spar yet?" Kakashi called out to his former Sensei, "I'll even take it easy on you." He was looking forward to the spar, more than he was willing to admit, plus… he might even _beat_ Sensei, if only just this once!

"Oh really...?" Minato smirked. "Silly Deshi, you'll never beat me..." Did Kakashi not remember the spectacular beat down that Minato had handed him last time they sparred? He fell into the base stance of his style, which he was going to teach Naruto and maybe Harry too later.

The others backed away to watch; this was going to be fun. A space was cleared in the center of the clearing; this would be a spar that they would _never_ forget!

Naruto wanted, couldn't wait to see his father in action, after hearing so many stories from Deidara and Kakashi. Plus, it would be nice to see Kakashi-sensei butt get handed to him. Harry wasn't sure who he wanted to support, true he had only seen Kakashi fight, but had heard of Minato's skills. "If Kakashi loses he has to give up five of his 'books'!" Sakura whispered to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded in reply with a grin.

"Hey!" They all laughed at their Sensei's expense.

But Minato's eyebrows went up. "Books, Deshi? What books?" Kakashi flushed and muttered Jiraiya's name.

Minato's eyes narrowed. "You did _not_ read those books in front of your students did you?"

"Only once or twice a day," Naruto yelled, completely ruining Kakashi's chances at winning the sparring match. They would now be treated to a complete and udder beat down, proving just _why Minato_ had been chosen to be _Hokage _over _Orochimaru_.

Minato lunged at Kakashi. The students watched in awe, they had never seen Kakashi reveal his eye so quickly and still get his butt handed to him.

"…The stories don't hold a candle to the truth." Naruto breathed as he watched his father _own_ his student, he wanted to know when he could start learning some of that! His father was a truly amazing ninja!

Kakashi fought hard, it shouldn't be this hard to defeat someone who had been asleep for the past 19 years! It just wasn't _fair_… But then, this was his _Sensei_. _Nobody_ could beat his Sensei in a spar, not even _The Professor_ (the Sandaime Hokage) had been able to.

At the end, Minato was kneeling on Kakashi's chest. "What have you learned Deshi?" Minato asked, wanting to make a point. He could still make Kakashi feel like an untrained Genin if he had to, the skill gap between them was just too large, and the potion that had kept him asleep had also preserved his physical abilities.

"Um… never eat Ramen with one chopstick?" Kakashi guessed, causing the others to giggle uncontrollably.

Minato gave him a look, why did Kaka-kun think that was what he wanted? Ku-chan was the one that was totally obsessed with ramen, not him. "Ku-chan was the one obsessed with Ramen, not me." He reminded his student.

Kakashi shrugged, "so is your son."

Minato rolled his eyes. "What did I just kick your ass for doing?"

Kakashi muttered, "I didn't make the bet."

He wasn't going to give up his… wait he had two copies of some of his older books. He hid a grin, "fine you can have five of my books."

"I don't _want_ them." Minato said a bit coldly. "And if I catch you reading them in front of Harry…" Minato got off of his student.

"Maa Maa," He held up his hands placating, "Tsunade's already lectured me." He did _not_ need another lecture, thank you very much! …Especially not from _Minato-sensei_…

"Well she isn't your Sensei, I am." Kakashi did the mature thing and stuck out his tongue at his old teacher.

"Oh that's _really_ mature Kaka-kun..." Minato caught his student in a choke hold. "Should I start calling you _Baby Fang_ again...?" Minato teased.

Naruto was the first to call to them. "Otou-sama, that was really cool!"

The group laughed, "We need a henge so that Minato can get back into the castle. Dumbledore is probably the one who brought you here, and I know you want to kick his ass, but we need to find out why and a lot of other things before you kill him," Sakura informed them.

Minato nodded looking thoughtful.

"And you need to apologize to Severus," Harry said softly.

"Yeah." Minato sighed. "I'll do that."

Harry nodded firmly, "so what kind of Henge are you going to use?"

Minato grinned. "Henge!" With a puff of smoke, an eleven year old Uchiha Fugaku appeared. "How about your twin brother?" Minato asked with a mischievous grin.

Harry blinked. "Ok!"

"Mr. Potter!" Fudge said smiling as he came across the group 'accidentally' as he was leaving. "How are you?" They noticed the reports surrounding him snapping pictures.

Minato glared. "Kindly leave my older brother alone. Today is a day to spend with family and friends; is it not?"

Fudge's smile froze, "Mr. Potter has no family."

"Yes he does," Sakura said letting the others slip in behind him, "we are his family."

"Now then." Came Deidara's deadly voiced from behind the henged ninja. "Leave us alone. We wish to spend the day together; as a _family_."

Fudge flushed as the cameras clicked than huffed as he left ignoring Rita's sickly sweet voice asking why he had just said that he and Potter were such friends when the boy didn't want to be around him.

Sasuke snickered. "May I get a shot at Dumbledore? I promise to leave you the killing blow, Minato-sama." Sasuke whispered as they went inside.

It amazed the 'students' how unobservant that the teachers were. The only teacher who seemed to notice the new 'student' was Severus, although the creepy Trelawney kept giving them odd looks.

Naruto bowed to her and apologized for his earlier words stiffly. She blinked at him owlishly. Snape took a look at the robes that Minato was wearing and pulled him aside, "who do you want to be with? Harry, or your son, they are both in different houses."

Minato looked between them. Harry or Naruto?

"I suggest Harry as he needs more help with students than Naruto does." Harry looked up, hearing his name. He came over and Severus explained his reasoning, "even though my students know they can come to me about anything, there is a lot they won't tell an adult."

Minato nodded. "Please forgive me for what I said before. I hate Dumbledore, not you. Slytherin it is then."

Snape nodded indicating all was forgiven and muttered the spell to make his robes show the Slytherin colors, "I will have an elf set up an extra bed."

"Thank you." Minato bowed slightly. No matter how much Naruto, his son, needed him, Harry needed him more.

(End Chapter Twelve)

Good two thingys, loved the 'kill dumbles atmosphere! XD

I know this is long! I hope you liked it!

Raise your hands if you knew this was coming, and realized the foreshadowing in the prolog!

Neph


	14. Family Bonding

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Thirteen)

Naruto looked a bit disappointed his father wouldn't be with him, but he understood, the Slytherins needed him more as did Harry.

Minato moved over to his son and gave him a hug. "You know why I'm needed there? That doesn't mean that you can't sneak down a few nights every once and a while."

Naruto smirked, it was weird having his dad look a bit younger than he did, "I know and Harry..." he looked over to where Harry was talking with Severus about the potion that he was going to create later that evening, "Harry needs the reassurance that you will lo... like him too."

"Silly Musuko, Kakashi is also like a son. I will love Harry as much as Kaka-kun." Minato tapped Naruto's nose in playful reprimand, smirking.

Snape couldn't believe what he was seeing. All this time he had been in fear of the unknown 'monster' in the dungeon and it turns out not to be a monster but a very protective father and a once again misleading Dumbledore. He went to tell Minerva, she was under the same illusion he had been.

The woman sputtered, "That old manipulative..." Snape wondered if he should start taking notes, some of the words he heard her say he would never have thought to put into the combination. But he held off doing so, best not to sidetrack her.

Kakashi was very careful not to read his books where Minato could see them after that. He had slipped his hand into his carrying pouch twice and upon feeling the killing intent grow he swallowing hard, had removed it making it look like he had been looking for something else. This was the Sensei he remembered. Minato-sensei could be _really scary_ when he wanted to be...

Finally, after almost two months, a book was thrown at him, smacking him in the face. "If you must read Jiraiya-sensei's books, read this one." Minato-sensei was giving him a stern look that made him feel like he was being scolded.

Kakashi meekly took the book and looked at it before looking back up at the giver, "uh... thanks?"

Minato grinned. "I loved it. 'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja' It's the first one he wrote and that's were I got Musuko's name. Very well written; and, it isn't porn. Too bad it didn't sell though…" He shrugged. If it had, he was certain that it would have been more popular than the ero-books that Kakashi seemed to like so much…

Kakashi sighed and opened the book, immediately losing himself in the pages. Minato-sensei was right, he thought; it _was_ very good... Sensei might not be getting it back... Too bad Jiraiya-sama was dead…

"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore called as dinner end, "if I might have a word," he noticed Itachi's hand tighten on Sasuke's shoulder, "your brother of course can stay."

Sasuke didn't like the feel of this... "Yes, Headmaster..." Kakashi, Deidara and Minato looked at him, worried.

Dumbledore made shooing motions and the other reluctantly moved out of 'hearing' range, "I thought Mr. Potter," he said his tone showing heavy disapproval, "that when you agreed to pretend to be Potter, you would propagate the image, not hide behind 'family' obligations."

Sasuke sighed. "I am. I do not think that Harry would like fame very much, since..." He trailed off to hide the fact that the 'real' Harry 'Potter' was here. "But, maybe you should have explained the image better." He had just been told to act like Harry Potter; hr hadn't been given any instructions.

Sasuke put his hand over his brother's. "I think the image you built up is wrong, either that or you never told me how I should act."

Albus scowled no upstart little sh... Should tell him what to do? He gritted his teeth, "and what do you think the image should be?"

"I met him. He was a small scared child that had been abused. To abused kids _any_ kind of attention is bad."

Minato listened closely, holding the real Harry close. He and the rest of the team were subtly channeling chakra into their ears so that they wouldn't miss anything.

Albus blinked his eyes gleaming, "where is Harry Potter, Mr. Uchiha? I demand you tell me!"

Sasuke looked away. "What makes you think I know where he is?" Did they have to leave now? Could the man read minds? Sasuke hoped not!

"You just said you met Harry, my boy," Albus said smiling, thinking he had caught the boy.

"Yeah, but I could have met him in passing." Ok, they _did_ need to leave... He signed to his brother.

"Headmaster, it is Christmas night, our family has a tradition to honor our ancestors," Itachi cut in smoothly, "if you will excuse us." And without waiting for a response turned himself and Sasuke around and left the Great Hall, a flabbergasted Headmaster watched them leave.

Minato met them. "What happened?"

"Lots of blustering," Itachi said. As if he didn't know…

"And me saying the wrong thing," Sasuke said angry with himself about revealing that he had met the real Harry Potter. "I think I might have blown our cover sky high... Darn it! I usually am better than this!" What would Yondaime-sama think? He was supposed to be the next Supreme ANBU captain, messing up would not impress the former Hokage at _all_!

Naruto and Sakura hugged their friend. Harry waited until they pulled away and did the same, "its okay big brother," he whispered.

"I'm glad you think so. But we might have to leave, quickly." Sasuke hugged Harry tightly.

Sakura shook her head, "don't worry about it, Sasuke," they looked at her questioningly, "look he has had two Harry Potters already, if suddenly he gets a third..."

Sasuke nodded. "It'll look bad. I know."

"So we are free and clear, plus he still thinks Harry is in Japan not here!" Sakura reasoned. That was right, Dumbledore still didn't know where the real Harry was…

Sasuke nodded. But he wasn't very reassured.

"Look," Sakura said pulling her ex-crush into a hug, "if Dumbledore pushes, we can send him on a wild goose chase. We can have Naruto contact Shishou, Gaara and a lot of the others who we have alliances with, Dumbledore will be gone a year before he comes back with no leads…" She snickered.

The smirk that bloomed on Sasuke's face was scary.

All of Team Seven, except for Harry and Minato (the last of whom had a _flee on sight_ order) were S ranked in the Bingo books of their enemies.

Iwa was going to have nightmares when they found out that Minato was alive and well...

Minato grinned. "Since it's the weekend, why don't we go camping in the forest? It can't be more dangerous than The Forest of Death back home..."

Professor Snape, that evening during and after Harry's Potion time, was called upon to 'sponsor' the camping trip, which meant that he needed to keep them away from Arogog and Bane (stupid horse!) and cast several spells on the sleeping gear to keep everyone from freezing to death as they were in the middle of a dry cold snap. The snow covered the ground was crisp and crusty because it was so frozen, and no new snow was predicted for at least another four days.

They stayed near the school, but just out of sight.

"Show me how you do the Rasengan Naruto." Minato told his son after they had set up camp.

The pair moved a ways away from the group, well aware of their audience, the Rasengan was a dangerous Jutsu. Minato didn't want to accidently hurt any of Kakashi's students, no matter how controlled the attack might seem.

Naruto made a hand sign. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" as soon as the clone appeared, Naruto held his hand out and the clone began manipulating the chakra flow in his hand. When it dispersed, there was a Rasengan in his hand.

Minato quirked a brow, "wow, that's impressive Naruto."

"Yeah, but I have to either create a Kage Bunshin or use both hands. It takes longer to use both hands and waists Chakra to create a clone... I may have the Kyuubi, but I'd rather not rely on it..." Naruto told his father. "I know that there will come a time too, that I won't have time to do it with both hands, or have enough chakra to create a clone... so I'm a bit handicapped with the Rasengan... I'd like to be able to do it with one hand... But I never figured out how to do it on my own."

Minato smiled at him, "but what you have is an excellent start."

Naruto blushed. "Otou-sama..." Having his father praise him would _never_ get old.

"We can work on that later. I am very proud of you. How long did it take you to learn the jutsu?" Minato asked.

"A little over a month," Naruto admitted.

Minato blinked, it had taken him longer, much longer, seeing as he had been working from scratch. "A month?" His son had definitely gotten his brain... "Jiraiya-sensei _did_ tell you that it took me _three years_ to create right?"

Naruto gaped at him, "but Jiraiya-pervert always acted like you got it much sooner!" He huffed angrily.

"Nope." Minato grinned. "It took that long to put it together. It wasn't even finished after three years, but it was usable. Which was important; but you finished it for me ne? I couldn't be more proud of you Naruto. You are living up to your name." Minato's smile was bright. "I was never able to finish the Rasengan; I had always intended to add my chakra nature, Wind to it. But I could never do it. You did." Minato gazed at his son with soft, proud eyes.

Naruto tried to smile back and hide his hurt, he had thought that Jiraiya-sensei had liked him a least a little, but to find out that he was just like all the teachers at the academy, mocking him, hiding information or not training him at all... He laughed like he used to when he had been 12, "well okay." He grinned.

Minato pulled him into a hug. "He liked you Naruto, he was your Godfather." Minato told him. "That's just his teaching style. Don't laugh like that, I know it's fake. He always gave just enough so that the student could figure the rest out themselves. I found it very annoying, but I would not be the Shinobi I am now if he hadn't been my teacher." Luckily for Minato, that style had fit his learning style well and he had thrived under Jiraiya.

Naruto took a deep breath calming his emotions than nodded at his father, "alright, will you help me with the next step?"

"Of course," Minato held his hand out. "The next step, is to learn how to manipulate the chakra with only one hand ne? Use your fingers the same way you use the clone."

He held his hand out to show his son, his fingers moved, manipulating the chakra. "As you get better at it Naruto, you will need to use your fingers less and less until you don't need to anymore. See?"

The pair worked for hours creating the chakra (bomb/grenade) for hours, Minato was amazed at how fast his son learned. Why Naruto was ever made to think he was stupid was well... stupid. His mother's personality and his father's mind, it was a truly fearsome combination. Minato never wanted to be on the wrong side of _that_…

When he returned to Konoha, he was going to have a talk with many of the teachers that still remained in the academy. They would no doubt be very scared. One _never_ wanted the Kiiroi Senkou [1] as an enemy, especially if you were an ally, or fellow Konoha Nin. "So tell me Naruto, how did you graduate?"

Naruto launched into the explanation. By the end of it, Minato had to remind himself that he couldn't get revenge for Naruto's treatment, _yet_.

That night the 'students' were asleep Kakashi, Snape and Minato stayed up talking. Kakashi could tell that Minato was deeply troubled. The fact that Academy instructors would do that to any child was disturbing. And the towns people... Naruto should have been hailed as a hero, not a villain. A glass of amber liquid was handed to him by Severus Snape, "you look like you could use a shot," he explained upon seeing Minato's curious gaze.

"My last request was a very simple one." Minato explained. "A dying man's last wish, _my_ wish was for Naruto to be seen as a hero. But instead he was vilified... worse than I thought he would be even." It _hurt_ to think that Konoha didn't trust him, or his sealing skills, to keep them all safe. He would never use a seal that he wasn't sure of! Especially since it was _Naruto's_ life on the line.

He took a sip of the drink and gasped as fire came up from his throat, it didn't burn like fire but like alcohol, "what in Kami's name?"

"Firewhiskey."

"Very..." Minato took another sip, this time enjoying the effects, "effective."

He then sighed. "If they did that to my son, the one protecting them from Kyuubi... then what is stopping them from doing that to another child? They already did it to you Kakashi... Never mind that you were already a Shinobi yourself… I'd even go so far as to say that you were lucky that you had already graduated or you might have received the same treatment!"

"Tsunade is working on changing attitudes, especially that of the council, as the council goes, so goes the rest of the villagers," Kakashi reassured him, knowing that his Sensei was right. He _had_ been very lucky to have already graduated from the Academy by the time his father had been disgraced.

"I hope so. But what if Naruto hadn't been so resilient?" Minato asked. "He could have easily turned on our home, and… I'm not sure I would blame him." He had trusted Konoha to take care of his son, and… his village had failed him.

"I think in the end a few of the smarter villagers realized that, and many remembered your words." Kakashi told him, "I personally never forgot them."

"I hope so. Other wise, when we get back, a lot of villagers are going to be in pain." Minato's smirk was evil.

Kakashi smiled, "I think that helping Gaara to heal; and all of the friends that Naruto made will help him in the end become Hokage... unless you're going to take up your old post?" Kakashi actually looked hopeful.

"If Tsunade wants to give me the hat back I'll take it, then the villagers would have to deal with an angry leader instead of just the Kiiroi Senkou, and then they will beg to have Naruto take the hat from me…" Minato said, his smile giving the other two shivers.

Kakashi started to laugh. He loved the way his Sensei thought!

Christmas break ended too soon, they still hadn't found answers as to why Dumbledore had captured Minato. All they knew was that it had something to do with Naruto. It was frustrating!

Even Minato was puzzled. Why had the old man wanted his son? What was Naruto's purpose in the old man's plans?

"We need a way to get the man, his portraits, and Fawkes out of his office so we can search it," Harry said during a sparing session.

Minato nodded. "Yes, we do. The only reason I can think of is that it might have something to do with the Uzumaki bloodline or special Chakra."

Hermione and Sakura were constantly in the library, they had found a large selection of 'hidden' books that had to do with prophecy. Sakura had noticed the 'notice-me-not' spell on them and she noticed that when ever the books were removed from the library they were spelled back to their shelf. Hmm... There was a book about their home here!

"Bloodline?" Naruto asked that night after dinner, he hadn't had a chance to ask earlier.

Minato nodded, "Your mother could use what she called Chakra chains; she used them in battle to bind her opponents. Let me tell you, whenever she and I sparred she'd use them, 'I was too fast not too' was what she'd say if I complained. Those spars usually ended in what could have been a scene in those Icha Icha books that Kakashi is so fond of." Minato chuckled when he noticed his son blushing at the extra information. He turned to Sakura and Hermione, "You were saying something about books being unreadable?"

Sakura nodded, "there are several stronger notice-me-not spells on several pages, I can start to read them and then my eyes go... wonky. One page was created when you were born, one page was created when Harry was born and the last was created when Harry came to Konoha."

"Hmm..." Minato looked troubled. "We need to know what's in those books. With Genjutsu on them like that..." this was very troubling...

"Naruto, send a report to Tsunade-hime." Minato told his son firmly.

Naruto nodded, already composing the note in his head, "Do you think baa-san knows of any seers?"

"Maybe..." Minato looked thoughtful. "When we leave, we need to take the books with us. We can't let the Outside know about us."

Hermione excitedly came up to Sakura with a book on Seers, "Sakura-sensei, it says we need to find the original seer who gave the prophecy, they don't consciously remember the words, unless asked directly."

"Really?" Sakura grinned.

Hermione showed her to paragraph, "now we just have to find a way to read and remember what we read to find out who gave the prophesy."

Sakura nodded. "Good job Hermione."

They all poured over the books when Minato got an idea. "Why not just copy the books?"

The two girls looked at each other and giggling smacked each others foreheads than began talking fast, "we need to get around the copyright spell, the notice me not spell, the forget spell, the cross-eyes spell..." Hermione said listing all the spells that they had found on the books so far. "Why didn't we think of that...? Thank you Minato-sama~!"

The girls got to work.

Minato shook his head as he listened to them speak half in English, half in Latin and with Japanese scattered around, "we need Professor Snape," Hermione finally said, "he would be able to help us the most."

"But can we trust him with this?"

The whole group paused, "I... I think we can," Hermione said, "I think that whatever honor he felt for Dumbledore died when he helped wake you up during break." Being part of the group, Hermione was ecstatic for Naruto. She had always been a loner/bookworm. If she could, she'd persuade her parents to move to Konoha, she had a feeling that, if given the chance, none of her new friends would be coming back. She didn't want to lose this.

Minato nodded. "I think he will be a wonderful asset and his partner too, though she isn't helping enough..." He'd been watching Minerva and she was running interference for them and Snape. But it wasn't enough for them to trust her just yet.

"I say we still need to search his office," Naruto said, "if he had Harry's invisibility cloak, there is no telling what other things he's been holding on to for Harry."

Sasuke nodded. "I don't think he'll be giving me anything else..."

"At least not this year... it's like he wants to dribble things out to gain 'Harry's' gratitude or something," Deidara said, "we need to get in touch with Gringots too, find out who has access to Harry's bank accounts and such."

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, we need to do that..."

"UGH!" Naruto whined as Sakura pulled out paper, "its list time."

Minato beat her to hitting him and tapped him on the nose in reprimand. "This is very important, don't whine, besides..." He looked around. "Do you want to bring the librarian down on us?"

Pince chose that moment to walk by sniffing at the group, as soon as she was out of sight the group broke into snickers. They got back to work.

"You want to copy what?" Snape asked when the girl's came up to him with their part of the list.

"There are books that can't be seen or read in the library..." Hermione explained.

Minerva came up as they explained what they wanted. "Why not just go to the hall of prophesies," She asked, "only those who the prophesies are about can touch them, but the Unspeakable should be able to tell you who that is."

The girls grinned at her. "Thank you McGonagall-sensei~" They scampered off to tell the rest of the team.

Minerva gave Snape a nod. "If he finds out that we are helping them then we will have to run..."

"What else do you have to prepare to do that?" Snape asked, indicating that she should come into his quarters, "I've got paperwork all ready, Minky (my house elf) knows what needs to come with us."

"Not much. I have everything packed, my funds need to be moved but that can be done later. We will have to go with the Ninja when Dumbledore finds out... would we be accepted?" Minerva asked.

"Not to offend you, my dear Minerva, but why should they accept _you_?" Snape asked her, "I've helped them a LOT in the past few weeks since Christmas break, you... haven't. They need to get into Dumbledore's quarters and find out what else he has of Harry's up there. How can YOU do that?"

She looked thoughtful. They both knew he was manipulating her, but they also both knew that he was right; it still seemed she was on the fence, trying to play both sides.

One of Deidara's clay creations were eavesdropping on the conversation. They needed to know which side she was on.

"I'm not on his side anymore, and I think... I have an idea..." She went into detail about her plan. She was going along with Snape because she knew that he was right and she _was_ on their side, even if she hadn't done much yet.

One week later, Dumbledore left for a weekend conference with the minister and Minerva got the portraits and out with the excuse that they needed cleaning and Fawkes went with Dumbledore.

Even though they could have given the password to the gargoyle they weren't sure if it kept track of who used it to go up, and beside, Kakashi thought that they needed to work on their wall climbing.

Minerva had left the window open for them. She had given them a sketch of the room and his quarters as well as all of the closets that the man had. She was doing her best to show that she was of the same mind as Severus.

They found a few things, a huge bookshelf of journals that Sakura and Hermione cast duplications spells on, "hey guys," Sasuke said pacing one of the rooms "is it me or is this room smaller than it should be?"

Minato went to Sasuke. "It's not just you... Let's find out why..."

(End Chapter Thirteen)

[1] This is Minato's moniker the Yellow Flash. I prefer the Japanese name. the full moniker is Konoha no Kiiroi Senko, which translates to Konoha's Yellow Flash.

I hope you like it!


	15. Dumbledore's Secrets and Preparing

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Fourteen)

Sasuke and Minato worked on the wards of the room for over 10 minutes while the others continued their search. All this reading was getting them nowhere... Naruto ended up throwing a book at a wall. The room was stunned into silence when a door of the secret room suddenly opened.

Naruto blinked as he stuck his head into the hidden room. "Hey guys! Come look at this!"

"Who are you!" Two voices yelled from a portrait, "and why do you look like my brother-in-law?"

Naruto blinked. "...This brother-in-law of yours have a name?"

The red headed woman huffed, "yes, Minato-san, Lord Hokage and general pain in my a..."

A painted hand was put over the woman's mouth, "forgive my wife Lily's bad manners," the man said, "I am James Potter and this is my wife Lily."

"Oi, Tou-san!" Naruto called. "There's something in here you need to see!"

"Tou-san?" Lily whispered, "How long has that old coot kept us in here!"

Minato's head appeared above Naruto's. "Naruto-chan, why don't you go in so the rest of us can look ne; you're blocking the doorway," The statement was followed by the reprimanding tap on the nose that Naruto had grown accustomed to.

Lily blinked when the man appeared, "hello Minato-san," she said, "how's my Onee-chan doing?"

"Ku-chan..." Minato looked away as Naruto moved into the room. "You're looking at what's left of her..." He gazed at his son sadly.

Lily's eyes filled with tears, "did Dumbledore have something to do with her death? Is he trying to stop the last prophecy?"

"No, that was Uchiha Madara's doing. He ripped Kyuubi from her minutes after Naruto was born." He blinked. "...Third prophesy? I'm only aware of two..."

James gently touched his wife's cheek as she hid her tears, "the third talks of two powerful families reuniting and bringing down the false Lord of Light."

"That's why we went into hiding, but in the end Dumbledore killed our little Harry." James' voice cracked.

"He did not!" Naruto told them. "Harry-chan is alive and well, he found his way to us in Konoha several years ago."

"But the night we were killed, he came in gloating about how he killed Harry!" James' breathed, "our son is alive!"

Minato pulled Harry out from behind him. Minato nudged Harry forward.

"Is that..." James breathed, "Lils he has your eyes!"

"Harry, these are you're parents, my brother and sister-in-law." Minato whispered into Harry's ear.

Harry moved until he was able to touch the paintings, "mom, dad!"

"Harry!"

"Wait... I remember Ero-sensei saying something about a third Prophesy that named the Namikaze Clan and one other family..." Minato mused, trying to remember what Jiraiya had said.

James nodded and sighed with remorse, "the healed Potter family, but through my arrogance and Dumbledore's manipulations, I drove my cousin to hate me."

"We're already fixing that."

"But Severus... he will never forgive me or my family for what I put him through and for what our family put his mother through," James said shaking his head.

"Not so." Harry said with a smile. "He likes me. He's been helping us!"

A large firework went off outside of the window, "damn that's the signal!" Sakura said and hurried over to the small room, "we need to leave, Sev just sent up the signal!"

"Should we take anything with us? Harry's stuff is a given..."

"Take us!" Lily said, "You will need to use the Ox, Monkey seal to break Dumbledore's seal on us."

Minato flashed through the hand signs.

Lily mimicked him perfectly and he and Sasuke caught the painting before it could hit the floor, "everyone out the window!" Sakura hissed as she helped them to move the heavy portrait.

They dove, using their chakra to cling to the wall. They all sighed in relief when they heard the door open.

Sakura took a quickly glance around as she closed the window, everything was perfectly back in place, exactly like a ninja mission should go off!

Naruto and Sasuke did a high five. "We did it!"

Minato turned to Sakura. "Make sure you don't drop that Sakura... That's a very important treasure."

Sakura rolled her eyes and whispered, "Yara, yara," causing Lily to giggle.

"I'm... wait... No I'm not..." Minato muttered not wanting to bring up that pun, and then he blinked. "Hey Jamie, where is Sirius?"

"He's not with Harry?" James asked, "He should have been Harry's guardian if something happened to us."

"Why am I sensing that Dumbledore had something to do with this...?" Minato muttered.

"That crackpot needs a good kick in the..." Lily stormed and was stopped by Minato's fingers over her lips.

"There are children present, Lils," he chided when he pulled away. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Minato gave them a glare. "Harry is the only child here. Naruto is 19."

She pouted than shrugged, "okay fine that crackpot needs a good kick in the head," she leaned against James' painted shoulder, "we could ask either Amelia, Remus or Severus if he knows what happened to the mutt."

"Looks like we have to plan a rescue before we go home..." Naruto and Minato exchanged grins.

Severus hissed when his door was opened and he found himself staring into the painted hazel eyes of his enemy and cousin.

James looked away.

Naruto henged to his 8 year old form, "Family is the most important thing Sev."

Severus sighed and ran a hand through his hair motioning the group into his room.

Minato pulled Naruto and his nephew in and settled into a corner. The rest of the team followed. Severus needed a bit of privacy.

"Lily," Severus nodded to his former best friend, "Potter."

They might be family, but that did not mean Severus had to make this easy on James.

Lily sighed. "You're cousins! Make up already! She glared at them. Her glare was almost as bad as Kushina's.

James winced, "Sev... I... There is no excuse for the hell I put you through, none."

"I suppose, what should have been a prank war did get a bit out of hand..." Severus replied.

Lily shook her head, "I told you this a hundred times, Pranks are only pranks if it makes everyone laugh, what you to did was hurtful not only to each other, but to the whole school," she looked at James, "I love you, my husband," and turned to Severus, "and I love you, my best friend, I never stopped."

"I think it started out as a simple prank war though." James told her. "I remember trying to plan it out... and then, as soon as we were sorted, the way we wanted... something happened..."

"We agreed that one of us would be in Slytherin and one in Gryffindor. Then... the planned meeting after dinner, you, me, Sev, Sirius, Remus and Peter, didn't go as planned at all..."

"Something had changed; instead of the pass code we'd worked out on the train... we started insulting each other."

"I got a horrible headache every time I tried to bring everything back to where it should be," Severus said, rubbing his temples, "still do."

"Then... maybe it wasn't just you, I got headaches too..."

Severus stopped and looked up at James, "he didn't! He wouldn't have would he?"

James shrugged. "Since I became this painting I haven't had them..."

"But we were a healing family," Severus said furious, "it's against wizarding law for him to try and interfere with a healing family's rites!"

James nodded. "That's true."

"Until we knew that Potter wasn't going to come, he would remind me every week that Harry wasn't you, and every week... my head would explode. I think I have gone through four cauldrons of headache potions since last summer alone!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly his Sharingan activating.

"Oh no..." James bit his lip. "You know what we can do right?"

Severus groaned in pain as he tried to work past his anger and animosity, "I can't think... hurts."

Sasuke gave Sakura a nod and she jumped on Severus, her hands glowing green.

Severus went wild trying to stop her, his magic fighting to overcome the pain, the foreign magic was clawing at him controlling his limbs making him fight. She ripped the foreign magic out of his system. And then she began to heal him.

He screamed as he was tackled to the floor by Sasuke, pain ripped through his head, making him arch off the floor clawing at his head. Naruto and Minato each grabbed an arm to keep him from clawing his face off.

"Sorry Jamie!" Minato called from the floor. "But we have a medic, so we had better take care of it now!"

Lily and James watched with tears streaming down their faces as they watched Severus' pain.

"It'll be over soon!" Sakura promised. "Hang on just a little bit longer!"

Severus was whimpering by the time she pulled away.

"There, it's over." Sakura panted, pulling back.

Severus wilted on the floor, his breath coming in great gasps. When Naruto and Minato let him go, he raised a shaking hand to his forehead rubbing. They watched as Severus' features altered, his nose shrinking a bit, his teeth whiting, and his hair no longer greasy. His hair became messy like Harry and James'.

"Yo Sev, you OK?" James asked.

Severus carefully felt his face, feeling his old features coming back, "I feel... calmer."

Sakura blushed.

Severus blinked; it had been a long time since a girl blushed from looking at him, "that bad?"

Sakura grinned. "You are very cute now." She was sure that she had just developed a bit of a crush on the man.

"Cute!" he slowly sat up as she got off of him and Sasuke let go of his legs. A mirror caught his attention, "I look like I should."

She nodded, grinning. "Very cute," Much better than Sasuke, not that she'd _ever_ tell Sasuke that…

You know what to do now Sev?" James asked.

"We need to free Sirius and find Remus and Lucius," Severus said touching his face.

"And we need to get Dumbledore for what he did to a Healing Family..." Minato added.

Severus turned away from the mirror, "I need to hide this," he said with regret as he motioned to his exposed 'true' face.

Minato swiftly went through several hand seals, activating a Genjutsu to hide Severus's new features.

"We need to contact Amelia Bones, she should be able to secretly free Sirius," Severus said as he went to his desk.

Minato nodded. "You have a letter for her?"

Severus nodded absently as he quickly wrote it, than leaned over and opened a secret drawer and pulled out a seal, "this will let her know that the curse has been broken."

Minato ran through the hand seals and summoned a toad. After promising snacks and an explanation the Toad was happy to deliver the message.

Severus quickly wrote two more notes, "Remus Lupin and Lucius Malfoy, Lucius will be able to house Sirius until he is healed." He handed them to Minato, who sealed the letters with his personal seal.

The toad nodded; he would happily deliver all the letters, all he wanted was more snacks.

Amelia Bones raised an eyebrow when a toad put down the letter, her other eyebrow joined it when she saw the seal on it, "finally!" She breathed

"Will you wait for a response?" She asked.

The toad indicated the other two letters and that he would be back for her response.

"Alright, thank you."

Remus blinked; there was a toad on his kitchen table. He blinked again when the toad gave him a letter. "...Thank you..." He took the letter. "I'll send my reply the usual way." He stammered.

The Toad nodded, disappearing.

Lucius slowly lowered his tea cup and stared at the toad, "you're from a Konoha ninja aren't you?"

The toad nodded. "Yondaime Hokage-sama."

He smiled and took the note, "time is growing short."

The toad nodded.

He quickly broke the seal and read the note, "Tell them I will make the arrangements and meet Amelia wherever she wants."

He nodded. "Yes sir." The Toad said, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Cissa! It's beginning!" he called, smiling at her as his wife came in the room, "the end of the Lords is finally coming."

"Really?" She asked. "When can we go home then?"

He pulled her in and waltzed around the study, "Soon! Come we have much to do before Siri arrives."

"Of course!"

Narcissa grinned. She began calling the house elves as Lucius moved to the Floo to make medical and legal arrangements. As the preparations were made, their things were packed. They'd be living out of suitcases.

Amelia finished her letter with a flourish as the toad popped back into her office. "Here. Pleases hurry." She pulled out the paper work she needed.

"You wanted to see me, Madam Bones?" Kingsley said as he came in the door and blinked as the toad poofed out with a puff of smoke, "what, was that a... toad?"

"Yes, soon all those loyal can go home."

He smiled, "my orders, Madam?" He said already knowing what they were and cataloging in his head whom he could bring on this retrieval mission

"Bring me Sirius Black."

"With great pleasure," he said bowing, "Cadet Tonks, with me," he yelled as he left her office.

"Right!" They didn't apparate, they Shunshin'ed out. Nymphadora couldn't wait to get her cousin the justice he deserved.

Amelia rubbed her head, the next part was tricky, to call a large enough forum of the 'gimlet without alerting Dumbledore or the Minister. She summoned a cat, hopefully this would work. She gave it instructions.

"Of course Mistress." The cat poofed away.

Amelia sighed. "I hope this won't end in a huge headache..." She shook her head, she had no time to waste on hoping... she got up and went to prepare a small anti-chamber for Sirius' arrival and for what she hoped was the beginning of the toppling of Albus Dumbledore. She smirked. "Here we go..."

(End Chapter Fourteen)

I hope you liked it!

Neph


	16. The Final Battle and Going Home

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Chapter Fifteen)

Sirius tilted his canine head listening to the footsteps and changed back to human form, to keep the fact that he was an animagus secret, it wasn't feeding time. He heard Bella's taunting murmur but no reply and wondered what was coming.

"Padfoot, get up now. The Namikaze and the Potters are ready!" It was Lucius! "We're getting you out of here." What was he doing here?

He blinked, his eyes had to be fooling him as well as his ears, "Harry's dead, Dumbledore told me. And the Namikaze can't be ready he's trapped." Tiger-Lily's brother-in-law hadn't had any kids had he? He remembered the blond fondly. He had met them at the gates of Konoha, his village when the four were looking into a house, which they had bought.

He also remembered liking Lily's crazy older sister Kushina, who had pranked them incessantly with Lily's help before they went back to England. Every time the blond had found them in a prank, he had laughed, shaking his head and then _refused_ to help them… Something about sleeping on the couch their whole visit if he helped them. Good times those, had it really been so long? Way longer than ten years… He missed Flash and Fireflower. [1]

"No he's not. He's been with his cousin the whole time. Minato is out and awake, he and Kushina had a son." Lucius explained as the cell opened.

Sirius whimpered, he wanted to... no _needed_ to believe, "not a trick?" he said his voice small and childish although demanding the truth from Lucius, "swear it."

"I swear." The cell opened.

He glanced up as a black man and a familiar face moved around Malfoy and gently helped him rise, "Nymphadora?" he rasped.

She nodded. "Ready?" She could ignore the use of her first name this once.

"If I had to I would crawl out of here," he said his limbs threatening to buckle as he was finally upright.

"Good." Kingsley smiled. "Let's get out of here."

They ignored Bella's insane shrieks of rage as he was lead down the hall and to the small ministry boat, "you would think," Lucius said dryly, "that they could afford better equipment." He sniffed as he sat down, and gave a small smile as the words had the intended effect, as Sirius began laughing, the healing laughter of someone who desperately needed the happiness to keep him sane. They got out without being noticed.

As soon as they were out of the portkey wards, they portkeyed away, only Kingsley stayed behind to obliviate the Captain, just as he had obliviated the few human guards that they had met on the island. Then he Shunshinned away.

They were ready for the 'trial'.

Remus caught Sirius as they appeared in Malfoy Manor and gently picked the emaciated man up. Cissa moved ahead showing him where he could take him and help him bathe, while Tonks brought a large tray of potions and soup. Lucius nodded and apparated to the ministry, "phase one complete," he said to Amelia who was gathering owls from those who would attend the emergency session. "He will be ready in an hour, will last about 2 hours before the potions will run out and he will need to sleep for a few days."

She nodded. "That's all the time we need." She was confidant in their plan.

Lucius looked at the notes in her hand, "enough for a majority vote without touching the Light Lord's allies?"

"Yes." She smirked. It was such an evil smirk that Lucius had to smile.

A cleaner, steadier and more in control Sirius was lead into the court room an hour later, Remus still staying by his side, until Kingsley took over his position and helped him to the middle chair. Sirius was shocked when the chains didn't even twitch.

The hour flew by and he was cleared.

"The pup?" He asked as Remus came to support him as his legs began to tremble again.

"Fine, he is with Minato and his cousin." Remus reassured him. With Minato's reputation, Harry couldn't be safer. Flash would never let anything happen to their kid.

"Tired," Sirius said, his words beginning to slur, he barely twitched when a cloak was thrown over him to hide him as they exited the courtroom several hours later.

"As soon as we get back, you can sleep as much as you like. But you have to be up when we make our move." Remus told him with a grin.

"Ok," Sirius said, "we still need to find the rat."

"Don't worry, I believe Flash knows and is working on it."

Sirius floated as he felt himself portkeyed back, gently undressed and put into a soft bed, "he's a slippery rat."

"Against a Toad summoning Ninja? He's got no chance... Those tongues are stickier." Remus laughed.

Back at the school, Minato sat by the window, watching the thunder storm that had come out of nowhere, "This does not bode well..."

Harry whimpered as he came awake, he hurt! His head hurt and he realized he was tied to something with magic and chakra suppressing ropes, "Harry," he heard a familiar whisper and looked up into the green eyes of his sister, who he noticed was tied up too, "are you alright?"

He nodded. "I think so..."

The door to the room that they were tied in opened and a mouse looking man scurried in followed by several others, "Is bitty baby Harwry awake?" The woman who moved to the middle said sneering down at him, "bitty baby Harwry's godfather can't help him, if he can't find him!" She said in an insane sing song voice.

Sakura glared. She began channeling Chakra into her arms to use her master's Taijutsu. She bit back a shriek of pain as the chakra was violently wrenched from her by the ropes, 'okay no chakra power,' she thought, 'you are a ninja, what else do you have that could cut the ropes?'

"Ah did pinky learn her lesson," a man asked as he came closer and stroked her cheek with his fingertip, "ah, ah, ah, no magic, no chakra, no escaping." He snickered.

"Oh really?" Sakura smirked.

He just chuckled and patted her on the top of her head, "weak," He turned and watched Alecta Carrow pull out a wicked looking dagger, and moved over to Harry, as the boy tried to squirm from the blade, "we only need a bit Alecta," he soothed, "You can play later I am sure."

Sakura slowly tried to channel chakra into a seal on her palm that held several kunai as her eyebrow twitched, she wasn't weak; she'd proved herself a long time ago. The seal was something Minato had inscribed on all of their palms during their camping trip into the Forest during the holiday. It was one of Naruto's first lessons on applying a seal to skin. Who better to learn from than a seal master? One could only go so far with scrolls.

Harry hissed as the blade struck his arm, watching the blood quickly being collected in a vial, "soon," Alecta crooned to it, "soon, My Lord."

"You stay away from my brother!" Sakura snarled.

She grunted at the kick to her stomach sent her chair rocking until it fell backwards. She hit her head hard and was dazed, and heard Harry cry out for her, "Sakura-nee-chan!"

Finally a Kunai poofed into her hand and she began working on getting free.

She felt Harry's chair tip onto her and she grunted at the impact and carefully turned the kunai up and began working on Harry's ropes, never noticing the room emptying and the door closing than vanishing, into the wall. "This is all my fault," Harry said tears streaming down his face and onto Sakura's shoulder.

"No it isn't." Sakura nudged him with her foot in a form of reassurance, the only one she could give at the moment. "It has never been your fault."

Harry sniffed and felt the ropes beginning to loosen a bit and tried to wiggle his arms free, "but if I hadn't come, you wouldn't be hurt like this." He turned his head to look at her, green eyes begging green eyes for something to ease his guilt and fear.

"Harry, I've been in worse situations, its part of our job description, remember?" Sakura did her best to reassure him.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself, he was a ninja, he had a family who loved him, "sorry," he said and felt the ropes parting enough that he could take the Kunai from her and work on the ropes himself, they were very resistant to being cut, even by the sharpened blade. He kept at it. She was right. It wasn't his fault that a murdering madman was after him.

Just as he freed Sakura, they felt a huge wave of magic come from somewhere above them. They both looked up before trying to get out of the way. Sakura let her Henge fall, becoming 19 again. The door was gone, but she remembered the general vicinity and poured her anger and chakra into her fist. The wall/door gave way rather easily, it might be warded against magical tampering, but they had forgotten about physical force. Silly, lazy wizards…

They were in a dungeons and Sakura rolled her eyes at Harry, "_so_ eighteenth century," she joked causing the boy to giggle as she cautiously looked up and down the corridor, "left or right to go out?"

"I think its right..." Harry gave her a searching look, hoping his guess was right.

"Right it is," she said and the two slipped into the corridor, blending with the shadows like they had been trained. They quickly found the stairs.

"Where are Sakura and Harry?" Naruto growled; they had been searching for over three hours since the two had disappeared and they knew that they weren't in the castle or on Hogwarts' grounds.

"I don't think they're here..." Minato snarled. "Resonance might work, but..."

Naruto didn't care who knew of his agitation, Sasuke and Kakashi was more adapt at hiding it but the tightening of their eyes showed their worry as well.

"Naruto," Minato said quietly, "use Kyuubi."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked "how?"

Minato smirked. "You think I would give you a tool that I didn't know almost everything that could be done with it? Whenever your mother was kidnapped and she felt I was taking to long to save her she would channel Kyuubi's chakra into her nose and ears like the Inuzuka. However, Kyuubi's sense of smell is hundreds of time better than a human's. So use Kyuubi."

"Ah... okay?" Naruto said, "...how?" He repeated as he touched his nose and ears.

Minato touched a finger to his son's nose and began to channel Chakra. Naruto's Chakra responded by moving into Naruto's nose. "You feel that?"

"Weird... but cool," Naruto said closing his eyes to better feel the sensation.

"Now use Kyuubi's chakra." Minato instructed.

"Hey fox," Naruto yelled inside his head.

"_Here, now let me sleep_!"

"I need you," Naruto said as he came up to the red kitsune and leaned on the bars that imprisoned him.

"_Here_." The fox repeated giving him access to his chakra.

"Whoa!" Naruto said at the rush.

"You understand?" Minato asked. "Find them."

Naruto lifted his nose in the air and smelled. He was overwhelmed for a moment and felt a hand on his back steadying him as he sorted through the smells, trying to find the two precious and familiar ones. His eyes snapped open when he found them. "Follow me."

"With pleasure." They all leapt into the trees.

Naruto was struggling not to howl his rage as he smelt their blood.

"What do you smell Naruto?" came the smooth, calming voice of his father. "Is something wrong? Are they injured? Can you smell their blood?"

Naruto nodded, "blood, not a lot, but enough," he said and glanced up disconcerted to see Dumbledore being drawn along faster than they were by Fawkes, "he knows something."

Minato smirked. "Then it's a good thing I gave Sakura-chan one of my Hiraishin kunai..." He would never leave Team Seven unguarded. Team Seven was _his_ team after all, and Sakura really reminded him of Rin.

Sakura drew Harry deeper into the shadows, as the man/thing stepped out of the large caldron. He felt more evil than Pein and Orochimaru combined. Sakura hadn't thought that that had been possible... She felt the kunai that Minato-sama had given her heat up.

"Ah, Tom," an amicable voice said and she looked up to see Dumbledore walking in with Fawkes on his shoulder. Dumbledore looked for all the world like he was looking after and about to admonish a wayward first year not this evil thing.

She pulled out the heated kunai [2] out of her pouch. "Minato-sama..." Sakura breathed. "Please hurry..."

Spells began flying between the two enemies and despite the terrifying circumstances, Sakura and Harry were in awe of the fight. Riddle had no qualms about using his Death Eaters as living weapons and shields only dropping a body when it was too small or too broken to be of use before grabbing another one. Dumbledore transformed the furniture, rugs and other decorations into his fight.

Sakura held Harry tightly and stayed as quiet as she could. If they were caught between these two they were as good as dead.

Minato grabbed Sasuke and Naruto as Kakashi, Itachi and Deidara grabbed his shoulders. Then, they disappeared.

Harry saw the small clay weasel first, and nudged Sakura gently in the stomach, pointing his chin to the scurrying critter.

She grinned. "Right on time..."

The weasel came to them and climbed on Harry's shoulder nudging him to their left and the two followed its lead; frezing when either fighter turned their way; but slowly making their way to their family. They didn't want to be caught _at all_…

Minato and the others were waiting for them.

Naruto hugged them both tightly, "air Naruto," Sakura wheezed.

"Sorry..." Naruto apologized as he eased up on the hugs.

"We need to end this," Minato said, "strike the victor while he is weak so we can be free."

They all nodded.

"Naruto, don't be afraid to use Kyuubi." Minato told him.

Naruto nodded, face set in a grim expression identical to his father's, seeing father and son with identical expressions was frightening.

They waited and watched as the two combatants fought mercilessly, blood and sweat pouring down their faces.

Minato smirked. "Almost..."

Dumbledore was the first to stagger, almost falling to his knees.

"Now!"

Both men looked astonished as they were attacked. Dumbledore seemed to gain back some energy his eyes shining in fury as he took in Minato's face, "you."

"Me." Minato flashed into action. Dumbledore had a lot to answer for. Minato was beyond angry for missing the chance to raise his son; they would never get that time back. He was determined to take it out on the old man's hide.

Dumbledore stumbled back under the furious attack. "Potter," Voldemort sneered, "I will destroy you."

"Over our cold dead bodies!" Team Seven plus two declared as they attacked.

Deidara glared at the man. "I will _never_ let you touch either of my baby cousins!"

Sakura attacked as if she was possessed. "I am not weak!" She told Tom Riddle viciously as she tore through the Death Eaters he summoned to use as meat shields. "I may be from a Civilian family and be what you call a Muggle, but I have never been weak!" All her training under Tsunade, Godaime Hokage and Slug Princess of the Sannin proved that. She didn't need to prove herself to anyone, even if insulting her strength and hard work still set her off.

Kakashi gave her cover fire. "I will never let you touch my family."

"Touch my team and die!" Itachi and Sasuke agreed at the same time.

Voldemort pulled a screaming Alecta to him and threw her at them.

She was sliced to ribbons by Naruto's elongated claws. Naruto had nothing to say to a monster that would try to kill a one-year-old child. It was as much this man's fault as it was Madara's that his family was as broken as it was.

"Wormtail, defend me," he yelled at the fleeing man.

"I don't think so." Minato snarled, killing Wormtail in an instant (getting the revenge that Kushina would have demanded, as the mousy man was the reason his brother and sister-in-law were dead, dead before he could truly get to know them. They had gone into hiding very early into his Kushina's pregnancy;) before going back to Dumbledore.

The moment however cost him as he felt a spell lash into his side, he grunted in pain and felt the tell tale wetness of blood beginning to flow, "where the hell is our backup?" He hissed holding his side. He must have been hit by a cutting curse…

Naruto froze as he smelled his father's blood. His eyes began to bleed red as he went to help his father.

Loud cracking filled the area and more spells began firing at the two Lords.

Minato and Naruto attacked Dumbledore together, Severus and Lucius quickly joining in as they fought the rapidly tiring man. Minato had to fall back out several minutes later, panting, holding his bleeding side. The cut just wasn't closing.

He looked up when Sakura came over, her hands glowing green. Over her shoulder he saw Sasuke, Itachi, Harry and Deidara along with two other wizards fighting against the remaining Death Eaters and Voldemort.

"Damn... I got careless..." Minato muttered as Sakura healed him.

A yell sounded from Voldemort's camp as Voldemort staggered under a combined attack of a Deidara explosion and a wicked looking cutting curse. "Art is a bang baby!" Minato heard his nephew shout with a grin.

Minato had first noticed Deidara's artistic talent a month after he had retrieved the boy at his grandfather's request and had helped Deidara create and develop a style that utilized his talents, first using seals, tags and bombs so that the precious clay that Onoki sent every other month would not be wasted. Minato had only let his young nephew use the clay when he became a Genin.

"One last attack!" Minato called.

The man literally groaned under the pressure of the attack, "Death Eaters to me!"

Minato flashed around the battlefield, using his Hiraishin no Jutsu to great effect; killing the remaining Death Eaters. Minato turned to Voldemort, "You are alone now..." Minato snarled. "And now you will die." He felt no satisfaction as the monster in front of him died.

"Severus," Dumbledore panted, trying very hard to look dignified and disappointed, "I am most displeased," he winced as he caught the very bloody end of Tom. He pushed his mind magic on the wizards, pushing them to come to aid him.

They only attacked more harshly.

"You will obey me," Dumbledore tried to push again.

"Minato-sama, Help!"

The remaining fighters converged around a visibly weak Dumbledore. Minato and Naruto gave the final blows.

"Justice done;" Amelia Bones said an hour later as she took in the bloody battle field, "two Lords dead."

Minato breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's go home." He was feeling very tired. Maybe now he could morn for the family and time that he had lost.

Summer break came to Hogwarts and the ninja and allies packed up to go to Konoha. They were going home.

Tsunade was waiting anxiously for them. "Welcome home," she said looking anxiously over her 'children.' They didn't look any worse for wear…

She froze when she heard a familiar voice say: "Home sweet home..." She blinked; her eyes must be playing tricks on her. Was that… Minato?

"Yo, Tsunade-nee-chan." The hallucination greeted her with a grin.

"You're dead," she said, "aren't you?" She asked hopefully; please let him be alive…

"Nope." Minato gave her a grin. "The Light Lord was meddling."

She looked at him with consternation, "please tell me you will get the council whipped back into shape?" She was barely holding onto her power as Hokage…

"But of course Nee-chan!" Minato smiled.

"About time," she nodded at him and turned away, "Shizune! Get me some Sake!" It was time to celebrate. Getting Minato back was cause enough, though she was temped the shove the hat on his head and let him deal with everything while she retired and trained Harry to be a passable medic…

Minato and Naruto laughed.

"I don't have to go back there do I?" Harry said looking up at the smirking Potions Master.

"No, Mr. Potter... Uchiha," he said, sporting his new features proudly; his amusement at the astonishment in Harry's eyes apparent, "you don't, I will teach you control." While trying to win Sakura's affection… the pink-haired girl was beautiful…

He nodded. Harry then snickered, and tagged Sakura, "you're it!" he yelled and took off jumping and running away.

Sakura ran off after him. Laughter following them the whole way.

"Naruto," Minato said grinning. "Let's move you into the Namikaze estate."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Ok!" He couldn't wait to live with his father; it didn't matter that he was nearly an adult himself, they had so much to catch up on…

Kakashi shook his head and pulled out his book, "it's good to be home. Hey!" He yelled when Severus yanked the book out his hands with a look of distaste, "I was reading that!"

"Oh no you don't... Minato, he was reading Icha Icha again! Besides, I think real life is much better than the written word anyway," Severus whispered in his ear, "don't you?" He walked away, flipping the book over his shoulder. He looked to be going in the same direction Sakura and Harry had. He would never admit to having a crush on the tough pink-haired girl.

Kakashi ran after his sensei. "Sensei, wait for me!" Iruka-chan would _never_ let him hear the end of this…

(End Chapter Fifteen/End Story)

This took a long time to write and edit… I might do an epilogue or two, to explain how Minato survived and to explain Moony and Padfoot's not being in the last scene, but I'll only do it if I get hit with the inspiration.

Footnotes:

[1] Flash is part of Minato's Moniker, when he translated it for the Marauders, they decided to call him Flash because of how fast he is. Kushina became Fireflower because it was a play on her love of gardening and her fiery temper.

[2] We don't really know how Minato uses the Kunai, but two things could happen, he can probably sense what is going on around the kunai, but what happens to the kunai?

I hope you enjoyed reading! I might do an epilogue if it is requested, but I'm not sure what I would do for it… Remember to review!

Neph


	17. Epilogue

Hidden Tears/ Family Pain

Summery: When, in a bout of accidental magic, eight-year-old Harry James Potter escapes his abusive relatives he discovers a new world of Chakra and ninjas. After his escape he finds a new family, one forged of pain and tears. But this new family is incomplete…

(Epilogue)

Several months (that seemed to fly by) later, Sirius, Remus, the Malfoys, and most of the Auror department arrived at Konoha's gates. Naruto and Minato were waiting for them at the gates to greet them.

"Hey Padfoot, nice to see you," Minato called, "You look like shit."

"Nice to see you too Flash," Sirius muttered sarcastically, causing Minato to laugh. "Who's your clone?"

"Clone?" Naruto squawked, pouting as Minato laughed harder.

"No Sirius, this isn't my clone, this is my Musuko." Minato smirked. "When you came to buy that house nineteen years ago, my beloved Fireflower was a few months pregnant. He is our beloved Maelstrom."

Sirius blinked. "…Oh… How is Fireflower anyway?"

Minato and Naruto shared sad looks before looking away. "She's gone too…" Minato murmured sadly, "Died the night Naruto here was born because Kyuubi was ripped from his seal."

"Sorry Flash."

"No… it's ok, it's been a long time, and she wouldn't want us to be sad. She'd kick my ass if she knew how I'm acting." Minato gave the last two Marauders a grim smile. "Thankfully all of our possessions survived Pain's attack three years ago (somehow), there's a Wizarding portrait of her in there somewhere. Naruto and I are in the middle of cataloguing everything and haven't found it yet. I'll need you to activate her when we do."

Sirius nodded. "Sure."

"So, Moony, how are you?" Minato asked.

"Not bad Flash, all things considered." Remus replied. "Why do you call Naruto Maelstrom?"

"Because that is how we spelled his name on his birth certificate." Minato grinned. "We got his name from this book that Sensei wrote, He spelled the name Fishcake. Fireflower and I loved the name, when we looked up the meaning we decided that we liked Maelstrom better than Fishcake." Minato handed Remus another copy of the book.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he was Naruto's Godfather, since we used a name he came up with, and we were well aware that he came up with the name when he was eating Ramen." Minato explained.

Naruto grinned, blushing. "Otou-sama…"

Minato ruffled his son's hair. "I am very proud of him, he has lived up to his name, and the source so well. He's grown up the way Fireflower and I wanted him to, despite the fact that neither of us were there to help him. He is truly a Shinobi to emulate."

Naruto blushed in embarrassment. "Tou-chan… Stop it…"

"No Naruto… you deserve every word of praise." Minato smirked. "Welcome home." Minato told the group of wizards. Naruto followed his father as they walked away, allowing Remus and Sirius to sign in. They were going back to their extremely messy house and weren't really looking forward to it.

When Naruto and Minato returned home, they started going through everything again. "Hey, Tou-sama… I think I found her!"

Minato came running, "Does it look like she's sleeping?"

"Yep," Naruto nodded. "She's so pretty…"

"I know, isn't she?" Minato asked as he gazed at her lovingly, "Her hair is one of my favorite parts of her… We need to wake her up."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"By getting Sirius of course," Minato smirked, causing Naruto to laugh at the joke. Minato smiled, he loved hearing his son's genuine laughter. Once his Fireflower was woken up, the pain of losing her wouldn't be so bad. There was a knock at the front door, and Minato got up to get it. "Yo, Padfoot was just about to go get you. We found her."

"Already? That's awesome," Sirius replied. "Take me to her then."

Minato let him in. "This way Padfoot." The Yondaime lead his prankster friend through the still messy house, to the room where Naruto was still admiring his mother. Minato had to pull Naruto away so that Sirius could do his work.

Sirius pulled out his wand and muttered under his breath. A second later Kushina's eyes shot open. "Why is the house so messy?"

"We only just got home Fireflower, Naruto and I have been cataloguing everything, we haven't had the chance to put anything away yet. And we really wanted to find you so…" Minato gave her the charming smile that he could. "Now that we have, we'll start."

"You did use the seal I gave you right?" she asked in concern, "It looks like no one's lived here in _years_…"

"I did… but it left me open." Minato told her, "While I was recovering the Light Lord…"

"What did he do?" Kushina asked, irritated. "If he took you away I'll kill him!"

Minato silently thanked the gods that she was a portrait and not a person. She'd hurt him for leaving their little Maelstrom alone. "That's because nobody _has_, my precious Fireflower. I was switched with a cadaver, how no one realized I'm not sure."

"You were kidnapped?" Kushina asked incredulously.

Minato blushed. "Yes, I tried to return when I woke but they did something to me."

"Dumbledore is lucky that I am dead!"

"Yes dear… on that note…" Minato and Naruto shared a look.

"Oh yes, where is Lily-chan?"

"Riry-chan is…" Minato looked away. "I'm sorry Kushina-chan, the Light Lord killed her."

"…When…?"

"Almost eleven years ago now, my Fireflower…" Minato looked away. "By that time I was already deep in a drugged sleep. Otherwise they might still be alive, since there is no way I would have let anything happen to them."

"…What happened to Naruto-chan Minato?" Kushina asked, eyeing the younger blond.

"Against all odds, he grew up the way we wanted him to." Minato grinned, causing Naruto to blush.

Kushina grinned. "He should have had your name, not mine."

"He didn't." Minato told her, "He grew up with yours."

"Mine? That's not what we wanted!" Kushina exclaimed. "He should have always been Namikaze Naruto!"

"If he had been, the Light Lord would have been tipped off." Minato sighed, remembering before, "Your name allowed Naruto to fly under the radar long enough for him to free me from my confinement."

"Oh…"

Minato looked out the window sadly; he remembered meeting the pranksters like it was yesterday…

Family Pain/Hidden Tears

Lily Evans (who was really Uzumaki Yuri) [1] speculatively eyed her boys from where she was, crouching on her tree branch. "Are you boys _really_ sure that you can keep up with my tree hopping?" Her boys (her boyfriend and two of his best friends) gave her suspicious looks. "You will have to morph… I _am_ really fast you know…"

"It doesn't matter Tigerlily, even if we can't keep up we'll still be able to find Konoha, it's just down this road a ways isn't it?" James asked stumbling over his words slightly because he was still learning the language.

"It is Jamie, my sister and her Saiai [2] are at the gates waiting, we shouldn't keep them waiting too long…" Lily reminded them.

"You still haven't told us what that means, are they together?" Sirius asked also stumbling on his words before he transformed into Padfoot.

"Saiai means beloved you Mutt." Lily giggled, "My sister is married by the way." She then took off into the trees near the road.

James groaned before transforming and letting Remus get onto his back. Then he and Sirius took off after her. Why was his Tigerlily like this? He and Padfoot sped off after her disappearing form, knowing that they wouldn't be able to keep up.

Lily grinned when she finally saw the huge open gates of Konohagakure no Sato. She was finally home after almost seven long years! She had done her best _not_ to make friends… but then she had met the Prince and Potter cousins and she hadn't been able to stop herself. It was a good thing that they were looking for a house here. She was glad that she'd been able to convince them. She hopped down the tree and dashed the last leg on foot, wanting more than anything to see her older sister again.

"Nee-chan, Minato-nii!" Yuri called as she raced to the open gates. She could see them waiting for her. Lily tackled her older sister Kushina happily. "I missed you both!"

"We missed you just as much Yuri-chan." Kushina replied, her arms encircling her younger sister in a warm hug. "So, what are you doing here?" she asked curiously, Kushina had known that her sister had wanted to move back home but hadn't been expecting her for several more months.

"My boys and I are looking for a house." Yuri grinned, "Is the place next to yours still open?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes it is." Kushina replied, "And what's this about _your boys_?"

Lily blushed, "Well…" she searched desperately for a distraction, a change of subject and finally noticed that Minato's cloak seemed different from the other times she'd seen it in the pictures that her older sister sent her every year. "Have you become Hokage Minato-nii?"

Minato blushed, "Yes I have." He had to step back to balance himself when Lily slammed into him with a hug. "It was a tough decision between Orochimaru and me …I don't think Orochimaru-sama is too happy with the decision…" He laughed nervously.

"You will always be the better choice Minato-nii!" Lilly reassured him, "How's Deidara by the way?"

"Tokubetsu Jounin now," Minato informed her proudly, "We are still getting the by monthly packages from Onoki-dono for him too, the special clay for his bloodline. He's out on a mission with Kakashi right now, though, they should be back by sometime tomorrow."

"Good, I missed them both a lot." Lily replied, turning when they heard two animals approaching. "And here come my boys." She grinned, pulling away from her older brother-in-law as the dog, deer, and man arrived at the gates.

Minato eyed the three of them before nodding. They didn't seem too bad…

Family Pain/Hidden Tears

Kushina looked away sadly, "And their son?"

"Harry's fine," Minato reassured her, "After we get the house cleaned up we're going to set up a room for him. The rest of the banished clans have also arrived home and many of their members will be taking assessment tests to see where they belong in the ranks."

"That's good, I'm glad everyone made it home safely." Kushina responded, "What about your title as Hokage?"

"We still haven't figured that out yet…" Minato grinned sheepishly as he continued, "I still need to have a few things done at the hospital before we can even begin to discuss the Hokage issue but I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Why?" Naruto asked his father.

"Because we are home where we belong, safe and sound."

(End)

Footnotes:

[1] Yuri is the translation of lily into Japanese; I figured that if I was going to make Lily Japanese that she would merely translate her name to make it easier on everyone else, and since it's still her name she won't forget to answer to it. She had to take on the Evans name because Dumbledore was being bitchy (he wasn't happy when he found out she wasn't British) she wasn't adopted into the Evans family, she just asked if she could use their name. (Not that Dumbledore knew that when he first placed Harry with the Durselys…)

[2] Saiai means beloved, beloved wife is it flipped around aisai. She has been teaching them Japanese, but there are still a few words they don't understand, those will be Japanese words like here. There will be a few more, but not many.


End file.
